A look at Kitopi’s three-year journey

A look at Kitopi’s three-year journey

When Kitopi launched in January 2018 in Dubai, few were familiar with the concept of cloud kitchens. Now, three years later, cloud kitchens have become one of the fastest growing sectors in foodtech and Kitopi, with its 60 kitchens across Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, is leading the charge.

The brainchild of Mohamad Ballout, Kitopi set about disrupting not only the food delivery landscape, but the restaurant sector too.

"I was looking at investing in food and was about to invest in the restaurant space. One of the brands that I was talking to, I realised that delivery was becoming a bigger part of their business,“ he says. "The brick and mortar restaurants aren't scalable in nature and their margins are shrinking. I thought I'm never going to make my money back on this investment and so that's where the idea [for Kitopi] first started.“

One of the main challenges facing restaurants is the sheer cost required to set up, making it difficult to expand.

"If you want to build a confectionary brand, you don't go and build a factory,“ says Ballout, you go to a manufacturer instead who can make the products for you. The same solution did not exist for restaurants