Spice Private Equity Ltd. is a Swiss investment company focused on private equity investments. Spice Private Equity Ltd. has over a decade of operating history and is managed by GP Advisors, a subsidiary of GP Investments, Ltd. The company is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange under the ticker symbol SPCE. For more information, visit www.spice-private-equity.com.

Spice Private Equity

Virtual Dining Concepts

Virtual Dining Concepts Leads The Way with Exciting and Profitable Delivery-Only Restaurant Brands. Created by restaurant owners for restaurant owners, Virtual Dining Concepts (VDC) offers traditional restaurant owners a low risk, all in one solution to launch a profitable delivery-only restaurant concept in their existing kitchen operations, with zero upfront fees. Virtual Dining Concepts (VDC) has taken a leadership role in the latest restaurant industry trend of virtual kitchens and delivery-only restaurant concepts, creating exciting brands that satisfy delivery customers’ food cravings, some in partnership with popular celebrities such as Tyga, Mario Lopez, and DJ Pauly D. Proven branded concepts including Tyga Bites, Wing Squad™, OMV Burger, P.ZA Kitchen, Veggie Kingdom, Potato Buns Burger Co, City Burger Co, and more are available for customers to order online through the concept’s website, along with the most popular food delivery apps including Grubhub, DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Postmates.

Virtual Dining Concepts (VDC) is a Florida-based creator of delivery-only virtual restaurant concepts or digital food brands, offering restauraters a low-risk, turnkey means of launching profitable delivery-only food brands in their existing commercial kitchen environments. VDC works with independent restaurants, regional restaurant chains, bars and nightclubs, hotels and other commercial kitchens. While these partners focus on executing food orders, VDC provides the tech stack and undertakes concept development, culinary testing, menu development, training, sales and marketing, PR, branding and socials, and third-party platform implementations. VDC offers its franchisees upto 30% in profit margins, with weekly payments.

Defining the future of the restaurant business.

Cloud Kitchens

VIRTUAL DINING CONCEPTS® EXPANDS ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH IHOP®

IHOP

To offer virtual delivery brands from IHOP's nationwide locations. This includes two newly launched brands created in collaboration with NASCAR and Major League Baseball

Players in this segment focus on creating virtual restaurant concepts or digital food brands, usually chef-created or celebrity-inspired, for licensing or franchising by third-party kitchens. These companies do not usually have their own kitchen facilities but partner with restaurant franchisees that prepare the meals using underutilized space in their existing kitchens.

Integral Ad Science

Virtual Dining Concepts (VDC) is a Florida-based creator of delivery-only virtual restaurant concepts or digital food brands, offering restauraters a low-risk, turnkey means of launching profitable delivery-only food brands in their existing commercial kitchen environments. VDC works with independent restaurants, regional restaurant chains, bars and nightclubs, hotels and other commercial kitchens. While these partners focus on executing food orders, VDC provides the tech stack and undertakes concept development, culinary testing, menu development, training, sales and marketing, PR, branding and socials, and third-party platform implementations. VDC offers its franchisees upto 30% in profit margins, with weekly payments.In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/32318">July 2024</a> VDC launched Linked Eats, an AI-powered software designed to help restaurants increase their third-party delivery revenue. Linked Eats leverages AI to automate error management, financial reporting, marketing, and restaurant pricing on platforms like DoorDash, Grubhub, and Uber Eats.&nbsp;In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/28081">March 2024</a>, VDC acquired delivery-only brand Man Vs. Fries, an Instagram concept known for its fries-oriented comfort food items. Post-acquisition, Man Vs. Fries' products will be offered under the VDC banner. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/32318">July 2024</a>, the company announced the acquisition of Sauce, a provider of a dynamic pricing tool for restaurants, with plans to integrate Sauce’s technology into Linked Eats’ automated pricing tool.

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 Sweetheart Kitchen is a Dubai-based independent cloud kitchen that owns and operates its own brands. As of February 2022, the company offered 21 cuisine-specific, quick-service food brands across the UAE and Kuwait.
 
 
 The company does not partner with third-party restaurants looking to outsource their delivery volumes but has linked up with third-party aggregators in the region such as Talabat, Zomato, and Carriage for delivery. 
 
 
 In February 2021, the company launched a loyalty program to provide customers with immediate ‘data-based’ rewards with a view to incentivizing specific behaviors such as increasing Average Order Value and frequency of purchase.
 
 
 In October 2020, the company raised USD 17.7 million in a Series C funding round led by Sweetheart Kitchen CEO Peter Schatzberg, with plans to dedicate the funds to launching additional brands and expansion in the UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. To date, the company has received total funding of USD 42.2 million. The company has not revealed any plans to expand to the US or European markets.
 
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Sweetheart Kitchen

REEF Technology (formerly known as ParkJockey Global) is an operator of parking real estate and delivery kitchens in North America. The company transforms urban spaces into community hubs by setting up cloud kitchens, healthcare clinics, retail outlets, and other services in empty parking spaces.REEF kitchens is the company’s turnkey expansion solution for restaurateurs. These are purpose-built commercial kitchens that prepare food ordered online for delivery and pick-up. Each kitchen prepares food for three to five restaurant brands, and REEF manages all operational requirements on behalf of restaurant owners including staffing and day-to-day kitchen management. REEF kitchens are connected to the neighborhood’s most popular food delivery platforms and getREEF (the company’s own delivery platform) via a proprietary delivery management technology. This enables each kitchen to organize and prepare orders for multiple brands. The kitchens operate under a license model as opposed to a flat fee.The company’s brand portfolio includes food brands like Wow Bao, Wayback Burgers, Firenza, Saladworks, and Capriottis and is supplied by Collectiv Food and Crate to Plate. For delivery, the company has partnered with Grubhub, Deliveroo, Postmates, and UberEats.There were over 300 REEF kitchens across key markets in North America and Europe, including cities like Austin, Miami, Chicago, Houston, Portland, Toronto, Edmonton, and London. However, in January 2022, the company temporarily shut down a third of its locations (around 95 sites) due to underperformance and a number of operational challenges including labor shortages, high costs, incomplete permits, and difficulties connecting to utilities. In March 2023, Reef announced plans to discontinue operations of its unprofitable ghost kitchen facilities in a strategic move that focuses on profitability. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/33243">August 2024</a>, the company announced plans to close three New York-based facilities with plans to pivot away from ghost kitchens toward micro-fulfillment and technology services.Key customers and partnershipsIn December 2021, REEF acquired 2ndKitchen, a US-based virtual kitchen for hotels, offices, buildings, and other hospitality companies. 2ndKitchen’s existing business will be combined with REEF's brand and will operate under its hospitality division. In November 2021, the company announced the acquisition of iKcon Restaurant LLC, a Dubai-based cloud kitchen operator, marking its first major transaction in the MENA market.REEF also strengthens its reach and customer base through partnerships with other players in the broader cloud kitchen ecosystem including Creating Culinary Communities (C3) and JustKitchen. REEF currently carries C3 brands in its cloud kitchens, and has a partnership with JustKitchen to launch its “Another Wing” brand in South-East Asia. In July 2022 Reef partnered with HUBB Kitchens, a North Carolina-based cloud kitchen facility provider to open a virtual food hall in the Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina.In March 2022, the company announced a partnership with the fast-casual Mexican restaurant QDOBA to launch 25 pilot locations in Seattle, Austin, and Atlanta. In August 2021, the company partnered with the American fast food chain Wendy’s to open 700 delivery Kitchens across the US, Canada, and the UK by 2025. In May 2023, the two companies announced plans to close down all Wendy’s cloud kitchen locations in the US. In March 2022, the company launched its first fine-dining collaboration with The One Group for its upscale concepts STK, Kona Grill and Bao Yum.

REEF Technology

Combo Kitchen is a Miami-based cloud kitchen partner that connects restaurant brands to franchisees, enabling food entrepreneurs to select and prepare established delivery-only food brands. Combo Kitchen was founded by Hossein Kasmai, the CEO and founder of Franchise Creator Inc., a Miami-based franchise consulting firm.Restaurant owners are invited to join the Combo Kitchen network of concepts, with the intention of expanding their footprint in new markets, growing brand awareness, and increasing foot traffic to key locations. As of February 2022, Combo Kitchen’s network included 28 restaurant brands, including Saladworks, Memphis Wings, Ramen Lab, and Poke Sushi Bowl. With restaurant partners, Combo Kitchen acts as a support team, freeing restaurateurs to only focus on training franchisees in menu preparation.For franchisees (often independent restaurants, bakeries, and cafes with their own kitchen spaces), Combo Kitchen provides support with location scouting, kitchen design and construction, advertising, and POS integrations. By incorporating multiple brands, franchisees are able to grow revenues while leveraging the same kitchen infrastructure. In turn, franchisees submit a one-time entrance fee to join the Combo Kitchen network and pay royalties to Combo Kitchen and the owners of the concepts in exchange for the rights to operate multiple brands in one kitchen.The company has partnered with major third-party food delivery providers such as UberEats, GrubHub, and DoorDash.

Combo Kitchen

Crave Hospitality Group is an independent cloud kitchen operator that provides delivery-only restaurant brands. The company’s virtual brands include The Flying Rooster, Madre's Flatbread, Big Reds Burgers &amp; Grill, Brownstone Pizza, The Red Crane, and The Twisted Cactus.The company was initially known for its food delivery company (“Crave Delivery”) before it decided to change its business model by launching into cloud kitchens (“Crave Collective”) in November 2020. As of September 2023, the company operates 4 kitchen locations.The company’s business is powered by its own proprietary software (“Crave Technology”) for multi-brand management, restaurant point-of-sale, kiosk and mobile ordering as well as operational support, driver logistics, and analytics. Crave Technology can also be licensed by national and regional restaurant groups looking for an opportunity to scale.Unlike other cloud operations, Crave does not partner with third-party delivery companies and instead employs its own staff to undertake delivery. The company also employs a large crew of mobile servers to engage with customers during pick-up, as well as customer service reps who answer phone calls. Crave conducts regular surveys on menu preferences and pricing, adjusting recipes and approaches in line with customer insights.In July 2021, the company estimated that its Boise location was generating USD 500,000 in monthly revenues.Since 2019, the company has received 4 rounds of funding amounting to USD 16.5 million. The latest round was in July 2021 when the company raised USD 3.3 million in seed funding. Prior to that, in March 2021, the company raised USD 4.9 million in a seed round led by early-stage investment fund StageDotO Ventures. Crave has leveraged these infusions for the expansion of its cloud kitchen operations and its licensing initiative for Crave Technology.

Crave Hospitality Group

Kitchen Republic is an Amsterdam-based cloud kitchen provider that offers food and drink entrepreneurs dedicated production spaces and access to high-quality equipment, alongside dedicated refrigeration and storage space. As of February 2022, there were 90 unique food brands listed as Kitchen Republic members, including Sauer Crowd, Vagabond, The Food Ninja, and Cultcha Kombucha.Compared to other cloud kitchen platforms, Kitchen Republic does not have a central location with easy access to large urban populations. This has effectively prevented partnerships with third-party delivery platforms like UberEats and Deliveroo. Instead, the company’s location in Amsterdam West is more suited to restaurateurs with their own delivery platform.

Kitchen Republic

Kitchen infrastructure companies that provide purpose-built commercial kitchens as a turnkey expansion solution and also manage end-to-end operations on behalf of restaurateurs and food entrepreneurs (e.g. recipe-based food preparation, staffing and day-to-day kitchen management).

Players in this segment are companies that wholly own and prepare several delivery-only food brands. Meals are either prepared in an independently-owned kitchen facility or through underutilized third-party kitchens using the cloud kitchen’s own staff. These food brands are not available for licensing or franchising by third-party kitchens.

Kitchen infrastructure companies that offer restaurateurs and food entrepreneurs purpose-built commercial kitchens (both private and shared spaces) as a turnkey expansion solution.

Some companies provide B2B SaaS solutions for restaurants to manage their cloud kitchen orders

PROMINENT_CATEGORY

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 Virtual Dining Concepts (VDC), a company specializing in virtual restaurant brands, has introduced a new AI-driven software called Linked Eats. The software's main aim is to assist restaurants in boosting their revenue from third-party delivery services.
 Linked Eats utilizes AI technology to automate various essential tasks, including error management, financial reporting, marketing, and adjusting restaurant pricing on popular delivery platforms like DoorDash, Grubhub, and Uber Eats.
 In addition, VDC has recently acquired Sauce, a company known for offering a dynamic pricing tool for restaurants. VDC intends on integrating the technology from Sauce into Linked Eats' existing automated pricing tool.
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Virtual Dining Concepts

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