It’s a kitchen. Chefs are cooking away to prepare food that customers are eagerly waiting for. Yet, there are no customers queuing up to be seated.
Instead, lining up are delivery executives who will collect the order and rush to make sure the food reaches the hungry patron in time.
That, in short, is a cloud kitchen or virtual kitchen: enabled by technology and empowered by a rising demand for food delivery amid Covid-19 restrictions.
They are mushrooming in several GCC countries, mainly Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
True, that opening a cloud kitchen in the GCC may require overcoming some hurdles, like the proper registration, licenses and permits.
However, Mubarak Jaffar, CEO of the KLC Virtual Restaurants, sees these regulations becoming more straightforward in the coming years when the concept becomes more widespread.
Food at all times!
A virtual or cloud kitchen simply hosts virtual brands that don’t have a store. The kitchen itself doesn’t provide dining services — only delivery — and in some cases takeaway.
This commercial-style has started to spread and attract investments in the past couple of years.
With the boom of food delivery culture, mainly in GCC countries, people are avoiding traffic and useless time spent for takeaways and turning towards the concept of cloud kitchens.
Opening a virtual kitchen includes creating a suitable commercial space with a set of kitchenettes and ready-to-go kitchens, with very low capital expenditures compared to setting up a traditional restaurant.
Due to their low cost in setting up and operating, virtual kitchens are likely to become profitable faster than conventional restaurants.
Jaffar talked to TRENDS about his challenges — mainly in reaching the maximum efficiency — while setting up the company in 2009, when customers weren’t even familiar with the concept.
First virtual kitchen in GCC
KLC Virtual Restaurants can be considered one of the first virtual-kitchen operators in the region.
It has several branches in Kuwait and started to open new niche cuisines after the rise in online food delivery in 2016.
According to Jaffar, KLC Virtual Restaurants provides a takeout element in several destinations, and it currently has over 15 branches serving 50 brands in Kuwait and three branches in UAE.
He added: “However, what’s makes a virtual kitchen special is that we deliver food 24×7 at all times when we can see that several cuisines close their restaurants at night. In addition, we deliver various cuisines and have breakfast, lunch, and dinner concepts.”
Expanding to the UAE
Based on KLC Virtual Restaurants’ understating and experience in the food-delivery industry, the company collected a lot of data regarding the gaps in each market in GCC and the needs and interests of the customers in it.
That’s why cloud kitchens in UAE are booming, especially since KLC Virtual Restaurants has an experienced team of chefs, marketing individuals, and others essential for the business.
Jaffar also clarified that KLC Virtual Restaurants opened its first branch in the UAE in 2020, and currently operates three cloud kitchens. It also has plans to expand to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Qatar.
He explained that the KLC Virtual Restaurants team studied each GCC market and appears appealing to customers looking for different types of food and price range, with the ability to deliver at all times.
GCC markets and gaps
Jaffar considers Kuwait the most challenging market in this sector. Still, Saudi Arabia has a lot of potential, mainly because there are several gaps, he said.
And KLC Virtual Restaurants apparently knows how to fill them through localizing as much as possible and creating their cloud kitchens from A to Z, with internal chefs and a professional team of designers and marketing specialists.
As for the gaps in the region, Jaffar looks at them as opportunities, and said that there is a significant focus in the UAE on healthy food and salads.
At the same time, there is a huge demand for healthy food in Kuwait but few providers.
He added that there is a lot of potential for delivering new cuisines in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Jaffar also said there are registration gaps in GCC countries since businesses are struggling to open and operate, especially if the kitchen is rented.
However, he predicts that regulations will be more straightforward in the coming years.