• Taiwan-based and Canada-listed cloud kitchen operator JustKitchen has announced plans to open two cloud kitchen locations in the Philippines’ capital of Manila.

• The agreement is between Just Kitchen’s joint venture entity in the Philippines (the JV Co.) - which was formed with TDG Ventures - and GrabKitchen, the global cloud kitchen platform of Grab.

• Under the agreement, GrabKitchen will supply the kitchen infrastructure for JV Co., while JustKitchen will focus on selecting the optimal menus from its portfolio of proprietary and partner brands. JustKitchen will also work on securing the virtual branding rights to local hero brands in the Philippines. 

• JV Co’s first location is scheduled to open in a shopping mall within the Makati Central Business District, the country’s financial hub, in May 2022. Further locations appear to be in the pipeline.

<ul><li> Analyst QuickTake: This is the first significant development to emerge from JustKitchen’s joint venture agreement with TDG Ventures, initially forged in November 2021. Through this partnership with incumbent Grab , JustKitchen is transitioning away from its usual hub-and-spoke approach to providing kitchen infrastructure to restaurateurs and instead leveraging the kitchen assets of other providers, similar to virtual restaurant brand creators. This latest move is in tune with broader company plans to license proprietary food brands and JKOS technology to third-party commercial kitchens, all in a bid to swiftly grow global presence without incurring further kitchen infrastructure investments.<ul>