Why Ghost Kitchens Are Shaping Up To Be The Future For Quick Service Restaurant (QSRs) Operators

PALM BEACH, Fla., Aug. 5, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The boom in off-premises business has some restaurants considering the virtual kitchen model. As counter-service brands grapple with rising rents and shrinking margins amid a crush of off-premises demand, some are ditching the dining room altogether and buying into the virtual kitchen model. A recent report from industry insider, QSR Magazine, said this about quick service restaurant operators (QSRs): "You can see the appeal. Virtual—also called cloud or ghost—kitchens are stripped-down commercial cooking spaces with no dine-in option. Functioning as hubs for online delivery and catering orders, they circumvent the need for costly buildouts in premium locations. Less prime real estate also means more space to accommodate delivery and catering vehicles that would otherwise jockey with customers for parking space. It's an ever-more-appealing prospect as the $17 billion U.S. online food delivery market climbs toward a projected $24 billion by 2023, according to data portal Statista." Active companies in the markets this week include ShiftPixy, Inc. (NASDAQ: PIXY), Slack Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: WORK), Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: UBER), Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ: LYFT), Beyond Meat, Inc. (NASDAQ: BYND).

An article in Restaurant Dive discussed a recent report from Euromonitor which said that ghost kitchens could be a $1T global market by 2030: "Ghost kitchens, or cooking facilities that produce food only for delivery with no dine-in or customer facing areas, could create a $1 trillion global opportunity by 2030, according to a Euromonitor virtual webinar presented by Euromonitor's Global Food and Beverage Lead Michael Schaefer. The firm predicts cheaper, faster and more reliable delivery could help this segment capture 50% of drive-thru service ($75 billion), 50% of takeaway foodservice ($250 billion), 35% of ready meals ($40 billion), 30% of packaged cooking ingredients ($100 billion), 25% of dine-in foodservice ($450 billion), and 15% of packaged snacks ($125 billion). "

ShiftPixy, Inc. (NASDAQ: PIXY) BREAKING NEWS: ShiftPixy Labs to Support the Rapid Rise of Ghost Kitchens – ShiftPixy, a California-based gig engagement platform provider, today added additional commentary around last week's groundbreaking launch of ShiftPixy Labs, a new suite of marketing and support services for quick service restaurant operators (QSRs). The COVID-19 pandemic has proven a game-changer for QSRs, which are now embracing ghost kitchens in response to social distancing mandates. New ghost kitchens have already raised more than $500 million in capital and are spreading quickly nationwide. Euromonitor expects a $1 trillion market globally by 2030, which could replace up to half of all dine-in volume as early as 2022. ShiftPixy aims to provide sophisticated technology to assist with all aspects of establishing and operating a successful ghost kitchen, and with the launch of ShiftPixy Labs last week, is inviting budding and established restaurant entrepreneurs alike to partner with ShiftPixy to drive their future success.

"ShiftPixy is introducing an innovative approach to physical space requirements, and a format that helps restaurant operators leverage our technology and human capital engagement platform to reimagine and test new ways of becoming better and more agile digital marketers," said ShiftPixy Co-Founder and CEO Scott Absher.  "We look forward to sharing more in the coming days on the exciting opportunities ahead for restaurateurs across the U.S. to forge long-term vital partnerships with us."

Through ShiftPixy Labs, the Company expects to provide additional layers of services and engagement, from business startup clear through to customer meal delivery.  The new functionality builds on the traditional ShiftPixy gig engagement platform that empowers restaurant operators to take full advantage of their human capital with cutting edge tools to handle payroll, compliance and native delivery.  Read this and more news for ShiftPixy at: https://www.financialnewsmedia.com/news-pixy/  

Other recent developments in the markets this week include:

Recently Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company (AMZN), and Slack Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: WORK) announced a new multi-year agreement to deliver solutions for enhanced enterprise workforce collaboration. Slack and AWS will strategically partner to help distributed development teams communicate and become more efficient and agile in managing their AWS resources from inside Slack. Slack will migrate its Slack Calls capability for all voice and video calling to Amazon Chime, AWS's communications service that lets users meet, chat, and place business calls. Slack is also leveraging AWS's global infrastructure to support enterprise customers' rapid adoption of its platform and to offer them data residency – the ability to choose which country or region their data is stored at rest in while fulfilling compliance requirements. Slack continues to rely on AWS as its preferred cloud provider and will use a range of AWS services, including storage, compute, database, security, analytics, and machine learning, to develop new collaboration features. Additionally, AWS has agreed to use Slack to simplify the way teams at AWS communicate and work together.

"The future of enterprise software will be driven by the combination of cloud services and workstream collaboration tools," said Stewart Butterfield, CEO and co-founder of Slack. "Strategically partnering with AWS allows both companies to scale to meet demand and deliver enterprise-grade offerings to our customers. By integrating AWS services with Slack's channel-based messaging platform, we're helping teams easily and seamlessly manage their cloud infrastructure projects and launch cloud-based services without ever leaving Slack."

Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) recently announced that it will release financial results for its second fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2020 after the close of the market on Wednesday, August 12, 2020.  On the same day, Lyft will host a conference call at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time (4:30 p.m. Eastern Time) to discuss these financial results and business highlights. To listen to a live audio webcast, please visit the Company's Investor Relations page at https://investor.lyft.com/.

Beyond Meat, Inc. (NASDAQ: BYND), a leader in plant-based meat, is working to increase accessibility to plant-based meat through the development of new sales channels, including club and convenience stores. The company, which offers an 8-pack of its flagship Beyond Burger®, first broke into the club channel last year at Costco. This summer, Beyond Meat added partnerships with BJ's Wholesale and Sam's Club, unlocking partnerships with three major club stores.

"Having entered all national conventional retailers in the US, we looked for where the white space existed and club stores were the next logical step towards increasing accessibility to plant-based meat among mainstream consumers," said Chuck Muth, Chief Growth Officer, Beyond Meat. "By offering the Beyond Burger in a larger format, we're able to provide value to consumers and a more accessible entry point for those looking to try a plant-based option for the first time or increase their adoption of plant-based meat. With the added focus on retail the past few months as well as a shift towards less frequent, stock-up style shopping trips, our distribution in club stores has been especially critical."

Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: UBER) recently announced that users in select Latin American and Canadian cities can now order groceries through the Uber and Uber Eats apps, in partnership with Cornershop, the popular grocery delivery startup based in Santiago, Chile. This follows the companies' 2019 agreement for Uber to acquire a majority stake in Cornershop, which is expected to close in the coming days. Today's news marks Uber and Cornershop's first integrated grocery delivery experience.

Uber connects people and communities with the tap of a button, including rides, prepared food, retail goods—and now groceries. Starting today, shoppers in select cities in Latin America, Canada and coming later this month, the United States, can find grocery delivery opportunities through both Uber and Uber Eats apps, furthering Uber's vision of bringing people closer to the things they need, all in one place.

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