Virtual Restaurants are on the Move

At the intersection of the time starved consumer and a solution to the age-old question; What’s for Dinner, is a technology company with a solution the empowers both entrepreneurs and legacy brands while reducing overall cost.  That company is Reef Technology a parking facilities company is launching Reef Kitchens: a hub for delivery-only virtual kitchens.

Simply put, Reef Technology entered the world of the virtual restaurants with its Reef Kitchens division, which will put delivery-based cloud kitchens inside their parking facilities. Empowering meals for anytime for less.  Think grabbing dinner for the family on the way home, lunch, or a quick bite and coffee on the way into work according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Consider this, Reef Technology has 5,000 parking facilities across North America, calling each of their parking garages and lots an “ecosystem hub” with a digital platform that offers ticketless parking for customers. Several years ago, Reef Technology’s legacy company ParkJockey began partnering with UK-based food delivery company Deliveroo to combine their parking real estate with demand-based delivery services. This is a big company that is doing big things according to Johnson.  

Big bet by SoftBank Vision fund as it made a “substantial investment” (speculated at hundreds of millions of dollars) into what was then known as ParkJockey. The company relaunched the brand as Reef Technology in June, with plans to move beyond simply parking garages.

Soon after, Reef Technology took their delivery-only restaurant kitchen concept to the U.S., where they began putting virtual restaurants and cloud or ghost kitchens inside their high-tech parking facilities, and currently partner with all of the major U.S. food delivery services, including Uber Eats, DoorDash and Grubhub. All of these companies are looking a customer ahead.  Are you?

Reef Technology CMO Alan Cohen stated, “People value their time and convenience and one example where [we’ve looked into that] is our Reef Kitchens,”… “Restaurants have this ability to expand their footprint without spending any capital by using one of our delivery-only kitchens. Then, people who live within that market radius can get their food hot and fresh whenever they want simple because there is a Reef Kitchen somewhere nearby.”

Think about this, Reef Technology calls their in-garage ghost kitchens, “vessels” and customizes their capabilities based on customer needs. Some house only one brand, but the kitchens are capable of hosting up to five restaurants in one vessel.

“People don’t realize that with as little as three parking spaces we can put in a kitchen,” Cohen said. “It’s not open to the public but inside is a full-blown operation with chefs and everything you’d expect.” Can your ideation, concept, or brand fit into three parking spaces or less today?  Are you looking a customer ahead?

Are you looking for a new partnership to drive sales? Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing tactics look more like yesterday that tomorrow?  Visit www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information or contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us Remember success does leave clues and we just may have the clue you need to propel your continued success.