Creating Culinary Communities (C3)

Creating Culinary Communities (C3) merged with Kitchen United and Nextbite to form the virtual restaurant brands company Everybody Eats.

Creating Culinary Communities (C3) is a food and beverage platform catering to virtual restaurant brands. The company is a partnership between New York-based hotel and restaurant operator SBE Entertainment Group, shopping mall owner Simon Property Group, and hotel partner Accor (which owns a 50% stake in SBE). C3’s focus is on building a nationwide network of cloud kitchens and a delivery-only food hall by tapping into the culinary resources of SBE’s restaurants, along with Simon’s real estate footprint and Accor’s portfolio of around 5,000 hotels and residences.

As of February 2022, C3 operated around 800 digital kitchens across the US and hosted a portfolio of 40 culinary brands including Umami Burger, Krispy Rice, Sam’s Crispy Chicken, and Kumi. 

The company’s proprietary app GO by Citizens allows customers to order multiple C3 brands in a single cart order, and each of its current brands generates an estimated USD 1 million per outlet. 

In August 2022, the company launched a new version of GO by Citizens. The enhanced platform capabilities included: 1) loyalty program capabilities to retain and enhance customer engagement; 2) simple and easy ordering, which allows customers to add menu items to their carts directly from the menu grid; 3) access to over 400 menus, including menu items from TGI Fridays’ restaurants; 4) the ability to order from different C3 brand menus, incurring only one delivery fee; and 5) integration with Google, Apple, and Facebook accounts, allowing customers to log in with a single click via any of these platforms; 6) delivery addresses and credit card information securely stored under the customer account details; 7) saved account order history, allowing easy re-ordering.

Key customers and partnerships

C3’s chef partnerships include major names in the culinary world including Dani Garcia, Dario Cecchini, Katsuya Uechi, Masaharu Morimoto, and Cindy Kruse. C3 has a partnership with the US restaurant chain TGI Fridays to serve C3’s brands Krispy Rice, Stonie Bowls, and Kumi Japanese Tacos at TGI Fridays locations. In October 2023 , the two companies expanded the partnership to offer Krispy Rice Sushi at over 140 TGI Fridays locations, with plans to expand the offering to all US locations (~300) in 2024. The company also has a partnership with Black Angus Steakhouse (August 2022) to serve Umami Burgers at Black Angus’ locations. C3 also has partnerships with the cloud kitchen operators Kitopi to launch C3 brands in the UAE (January 2022) and with Gzooh Kitchens to bring C3’s brands to Canada. (October 2022). In October 2023 , C3 partnered with Craveworthy Brands, a developer of fast casual food brands, to launch Craveworthy’s mediterranean brand, “Soom Soom,” across the US. In February 2023, C3 partnered with Legends, a provider of data-intelligence-fueled service solutions to launch a joint venture, which will operate and manage Citizens culinary markets across the US and Europe. The joint venture will combine Legends’ global operations platform with C3’s brands and IP technology.

The company also has partnerships with Simon Property Group and Brookfield Properties to open food halls in New York, Atlanta, Seattle, Miami, and California (May 2021). 

Funding and financials

In July 2022 C3 raised an undisclosed amount of capital as a part of strategic investment from Abu Dhabi Capital Group, Arden Digital Ventures, and Clearlake Capital Group. The funds are earmarked to grow the company’s cloud kitchen and brick-and-mortar locations in the US and UAE markets. C3 plans to introduce new food brands in the UAE, and bring the company’s brands to additional cities and suburbs in the US.