A deep dive into the GCC’s cloud kitchen sector [part two]

A deep dive into the GCC’s cloud kitchen sector [part two]

Cloud kitchens are the backend equivalent of the food courts found in malls - several offerings all under one roof. They emerged as a response to the growth of online food delivery, enabling restaurants to reach a wider audience without the need to build physical locations.

As previously outlined in the first part of this deep dive, several cloud kitchen business and operating models have emerged. Within this, it is the virtual brands that are the fastest growing segment. This model, which shuns the high cost of renting and fitting out a kitchen, creates the brands and then outsources the rest of the value chain to others. They make for an attractive proposition for venture capitalists (VC) who have become more comfortable with asset-free investments, particularly those that do not need to commit to long rental leases.  

In Dubai, The Leap Nation and Cloud Restaurants currently dominate this space, while other players are slowly beginning to emerge.

According to RedSeer Consulting, satellite or cloud kitchens account for 60-70 per cent of the market while virtual restaurants and brands account for 20-30 per cent.

"Generally, what we have seen in most countries is that satellite kitchens are the first wave, they take most of the