The London-based startup, which tapped up investors for $20.7 million during the pandemic, produced takeaway food brands for the likes of YouTube personality MrBeast.

Inside the implosion of dark kitchen startup Kbox Global, another pandemic-era boom beginning to bust

CloudKitchens, the "ghost kitchen" startup from Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick, has recently faced a series of challenges, resulting in a controversial departure of its founder. According to a ...

Exploring the Controversial Departure of Travis Kalanick from Cloud Kitchen: Reasons and Consequences

The Cloud Kitchen report encompasses valuable manufacturer data, including details on shipments, pricing, revenue, gross profits, interview records, company distribution, and more. This data ...

Cloud Kitchen Market [2023-2031] by Size, Share & Growth Rate

The company owns ghost kitchen startup CloudKitchens, which reported a valuation of $15 billion in January of last year. THE BUZZ: Like Uber, Kalanick’s current startup has been at the center of ...

8. Travis Kalanick

Short Description of the Dark Kitchen and Virtual Kitchens Market 2023-2031: The Dark Kitchen and Virtual Kitchens market has witnessed a growth from USD million to USD million from 2017 to 2022 ...

Global Dark Kitchen and Virtual Kitchens Market Comprehensive Analysis 2023: Industrial Overview Report 2031

Shane Beamer spoke about South Carolina’s run game earnestly but calmly. The offseason was full of uncertainty, between the program’s youth and departures. But three games in, with the Gamecocks’ proverbial first quarter of 2023 wrapped up, they know ...

How to fix South Carolina’s run game? These 4 things must happen, Shane Beamer says

With a slightly scratchy voice and a disappointed sigh, head coach Shane Beamer addressed the media following South Carolina’s loss to No. 1 Georgia, 24-14. Here were the takeaways. Beamer said there was one message he tried to get across to his players ...

Shane Beamer sends a mostly upbeat message after South Carolina’s road loss to UGA

We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest CloudKitchens news every morning. Travis Kalanick’s ghost kitchen start-up CloudKitchens has sacked workers this year and closed ...

Travis Kalanick’s start-up CloudKitchens fires staff and shuts sites

As the ghost kitchen company expanded, it treated operators as expendable. It's now reportedly cutting staff and closing

CloudKitchens won't succeed until its restaurants do

In today’s technologically advanced environment, Ghost Kitchens are heralding a revolution in the food industry. These online dining establishments have catalyzed a transformation in the food delivery sector.

Why Ghost Kitchens Are the Perfect Investment for the Future of Foodservice?

CloudKitchens

cloudkitchens

Let's learn about via these 75 free stories. They are ordered by most time reading created on HackerNoon. Visit the to find the most read stories about any technology. Food Tech /Learn Repo 1. What is TikTok Kitchen and How Does it Work? I look into the new restaurant concept, TikTok's motivations, and how it will work. 2. How AI is Transforming the Grab&Go Food Market 3. What are the Applications of AR in the Food Industry? How augmented reality is being used in the food industry and how it can have a positive impact on your business if you start using it proactively. 4. What Are The Applications Of AR In Food Industry How augmented reality is being used in the food industry and how it can have a positive impact on your business if you start using it proactively. 5. Startup Interview: "Not as many people genuinely care about food security as they should" Grow fast and fix things: if you aren’t fixing things, you are not growing fast enough. Look where "move fast and break things" has gotten us. 6. Food Tech Stories: Amazing Dahmakan [Part 2] In Southeast Asia cloud kitchens are undermining the eating out model, working directly from singular cooking settings, and delivering directly to clients' doorsteps. This phenomenon is also known as delivery-only kitchens, ghost kitchens, and dark kitchens. 7. 5 Ways Technology is Reshaping The Restaurant Industry Learn how technology is reshaping the restaurant industry making businesses more efficient and smart. 8. 2022 Predictions: NFTs Move Beyond Laundering & CircleJerks While Fake Meat Gets Attacked by the Sea Annual tech predictions from venture capitalist, Bernard Moon. On NFTs, 3D-printing, meat substitutes, cryptocurrencies and commercial banking 9. Can Technology Help to Save Restaurants [Infographic] The future for many SMB restaurants is unknown right now. With social distancing and hospitality guidelines varying by state and county, it's been a difficult road. The industry itself was originally projected to reach $899 billion in projected sales in 2020, now, that is unknown. 10. Restaurant focussed DAO called FriesDAO is raising $9.69 Million to run a Fast Food Enterprise FriesDAO is connecting real-world assets to DeFi and on-chain blockchain governance and raising $9.69 Million to change the industry. 11. Restaurant Table Side Tech: How OneDine Solving Chargeback Issue for Restaurants In the good old days, when you wanted to grab a bite to eat, you walked into a restaurant, swiped your credit card and bon apetite. Or you made your order by phone, then paid when you pick it up. Smooth process from start to finish. 12. Delivering The Competitive Edge In Food Delivery Business By Creating Mobile App Food - The Constant 13. Can We Decentralize Zomato/Swiggy? A simple approach on how to decentralize food-delivery ecosystem. 14. Why We Should All Pay Attention To Recent Food Tech Innovations There is a lot of food tech innovations out there that have been popping up over the past few years. And food tech has become a fairly popular industry to be in 15. High Technology Changes To Agriculture Companies: 2020 Edition It's no secret that development in technology will continue to revolutionize every sector in the upcoming years. In 2020, there are so many advanced technologies that have been developed to make farmers' work easier and hassle-free. 16. Food Tech Stories: How Walmart is Growing Food Subscription Business Based on this story: Walmart Grocery is expanding its $98 per year 'Delivery Unlimited' subscription across the US 17. 7 Companies with Recipe APIs in 2022 An overview of 7 Companies with recipe APIs in 2022 18. The Effect of Covid-19 on Ride-hailing and Food Delivery Services Due to the crisis of the ongoing Corona virus Pandemic, Uber and other major companies announced new welfare policies that stated that any worker infected by the Covid-19 virus or workers in a location are completely quarantined by the government, would get paid leaves or compensation. Inspired by these events, other companies built using the taxi app and operating in other regions of the world discussed similar procedures to benefit those affected by corona virus. 19. Metaverse: The First Step into A Brave New World How is the next generation bound to embrace a new reality that will be consistently enriched and likely to be limitless? 20. First Come, First Served: 7 Businesses That Hired Robots Before 2020 We are already used to robots in an industrial environment. Repeatability, speed, precision,
flexibility, no contact with humans, and safety. That’s what robots are all about. No wonder that businesses all around the world are trying now to adopt robots in their services asap. 21. Human Brand Ambassadors Have Limitations: Enter FoodTech Robots In the nearest future, a majority of FoodTech businesses and consumer brands will start using cognitive virtual humans. 22. Where The Money’s Headed: China’s Tech Investment Trends of 2022 China’s entrepreneurial fervor and investor confidence is at an all-time high, with no signs of losing steam. So, where's the big money going in 2022? 23. Top 10 App Ideas for Restaurant and Food Business Startups in 2022 This post will provide you with the best app ideas for restaurant and food business startups to use as a springboard 24. Food Tech Stories: Will Amazon Go Grocery Improve Our Shopping? This story is based on Experiencing Seattle's Amazon Go Grocery 25. Future of On-Demand Food Ordering App in 2020 A survey was conducted in 2019 among the restaurants who had opted for app-based online delivery for the first time or listed with on-demand food app startups. Majority of restaurants said that people nowadays are showing little interest in coming to restaurants and prefer online delivery most of the time. Needless to say that this attitude resulted in increase in sales as reported by 60% of restaurants. 26. "Is This How Our Story is Due to End?" #COP26 Are we investing in the right things or failing to see the bigger picture in pursuit of short-term goals? 27. How Social Media Can Help You Eat Healthily Just about everyone who has tried to make radically healthier changes to their daily food consumption have realized that this is easier to accomplish with some kind of support system aside from your own will to succeed. It is a great help for people to cheer you on, support you, give you advice, or even criticize you on your way to better eating and overall health. 28. 17 Smart Tech Kitchen Products to Buy in 2020 With each passing day, technology keeps on getting smarter and intends to make human life easier. Even the basic things we use on a regular basis have turned advanced.  Nowadays Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa have become common things in homes and commercial places. The kitchen now adopts some advanced gadgets to simplify the cooking process. Whether you want to prepare meals for a huge mass of people or just brew a cup of coffee, the smart tech kitchen products discussed below will help you a lot. 29. New Restaurant Tech Creates Touch Free Take Out, Reopens Entire Mall Marketplace Restaurants have been hit hard by COVID-19. With massive closures and layoffs around the world, it's been a tough road for hospitality these past few weeks. It can be extremely overwhelming to look at the big picture, but luckily, there are restaurant tech innovators stepping up to the plate. 30. Meal Planning Introduction Meal planning is an essential ‘thing’ for healthy lifestyle. Please note that i didn’t create that content myself. I only put quotes or links from other sources that i googled. 31. Working at a FoodTech Startup: A Data Scientist's Insights Since 2018, I have been working for a plant-based alternative startup [더플랜잇, The Plant Eat] as a data scientist. Here is what I learned while working on the food data team. 32. What's Inside Junk Food? Remember how your mom told you to finish your food before getting dessert? It turns out your mom was right! 33. Super Sizing Technology to Improve the Food Industry How technology is transforming the way food and beverages are produced, delivered, and consumed globally. 34. Your Robocup, Sir 07:00 am, the bus leaves in 15 minutes and you’ve got a chance to run to the nearest coffee shop to get your morning dose of excellent caffeine. You come into a café, happily recognizing that there are only two competitors in the queue, and already start to feel the energy of a double Americano in your hand. 35. Food Tech Stories: Digital Transformation of Restaurant Industry Based on How Restaurants Can Adapt to the Digital Economy. 36. Food Tech Stories: Food On Wheels Can Solve Last Mile Problem Urbanization is a common process in many regions of the world, including a huge proportion of people in less developed countries. Rapid urbanization can cause many problems, including poverty and food insecurity, which can make it harder for citizens to eat a healthy diet. No matter how hard policymakers are trying to promote healthy and sustainable diets, it’s still an acute problem in modern cities. 37. #FoundersConnect: Mariam Jimoh, CEO & Founder of Oja (Ethnic Grocery Delivery Startup) Peace speaks with Mariam about her grocery startup for afrocarribean people living in the diaspora. 38. 5 Lessons Learned During Online Grocery Product Development Online grocery services are steadily gaining in popularity. Recent statistics show that 22 percent of American shoppers buy groceries online at least once a wee 39. Diving into the Legal Issues of NFTs in FoodTech The implementation of NFT leads not only to the improvement of operations and brand image but also causes some legal issues which are worth knowing about. 40. Food Tech Stories: Solving Food Waste Problem With The Help Of AI Food squander is probably the most serious issue that humankind faces today. Internationally, between 33-50% of all food is never eaten, and the worth is over $1 trillion. That being said, 800 million individuals battle to get a meal on a daily basis. That is 1 of every 9 individuals on the planet who are malnourished.  If we take less than a quarter of squandered food,  we could take care of every single of them. And here are a few other shocking facts that you may not know: 41. How to Create a Successful Food Delivery App 42. Food Tech Stories: How Italy Fighting with Food Waste Based on this story: Italy passes law to send unsold food to charities instead of dumpsters 43. Food Tech Stories: How Sugarmate Helps People With Diabetes Today, most people with diabetes opt to deal with their condition with the help of a continuous glucose monitor or CGMs. Since finger prick testing is not really convenient, CGMs are a great option. And they give a surge of information nonstop as well. However, most data is useless unless the right tools are used to analyze it. 44. Tech for Good: Vertical Farming 100 years ago, if you suggested that climate change would one day threaten our way of life, you'd be laughed off the stage. Today, climate change is increasing global hunger and bringing 100 million people into poverty by 2030. 45. Food Tech Stories: The Secret Of The Sustainable Food System The EAT-Lancet report is the primary full logical report of what comprises a sound eating regimen from a sustainable food system, and which activities can support and accelerate food framework change. 46. How Agtech and Blockchain Could Invigorate Africa’s Startup Ecosystem The utilization of agtech and blockchain as dual catalysts for growth in the African startup ecosystem will help invigorate African economies. 47. How To Create An App Better Than Uber Eats Food Delivery Apps - Adding A Dimension To Food-Consumption 48. How Blockchain can Disrupt the Restaurant Industry This article talks about blockchain and restaurant tech to disrupt and uplift the restaurant industry after COVID-19. 49. Business Model of Online Grocery Business: How It Can Make Money Online grocery shopping is one of the fastest-growing niches of eCommerce in 2020. According to a study by Nielsen, 70% of the consumers will shop groceries online by 2024. Subsequently, consumers in the US alone will be spending $100 billion annually on online food and beverages, which is equal to every household spending about $850 annually. 50. Emerging Food Technology Trends & Insights for 2022 The food industry is one industry that benefits from the use of technology, from data gathering, food quality, blockchain tech and supply chain tracking. 51. Few Important Things You Must Know About Building Food Delivery App The need to consume food is never going to stop. However, the way in which food was commercially consumed is bound to change from time to time. There was a time when food was prepared at home. Restaurants came to the rescue of people who were outside their homes. 52. Food Tech Stories: How These Guys Built A Multi-Billion Dollar Family Business Who doesn’t know Panda Express? It is a fast-food restaurant chain that offers American Chinese cuisine. With over 2,200 locations, it is a forward-runner in the Asian restaurant chain niche. The idea of Panda Express was born in the United States. First restaurants used to be located in shopping mall food courts, but the chain has been expanded since then. You can see Panda Express in universities, airports, military bases, amusement parks, and other places. 53. 10 Reasons Your Retention is So Low At Food Rocket, we consider retention our key metric, and this is especially true for doing business on the US market in general. 54. Pivoting Is an Opportunity: Even for a Growing Business Pivot is not just for the times when a business goes the wrong way but is necessary even if your business is doing well and showing sustainable growth. 55. Food Tech Stories: Will You Marry Me, Cooking Robot? Based on this story:  S'pore's First Robotics Restaurant Serves Robot-Cooked Wok Dishes 56. Food Tech Stories: Yummy Trends in 2020 Based on this story: Food and Restaurant Trends 2020 57. Food Tech Stories: How To Fail Food Delivery Startup Based on this story:  Trackin: Solo Founding a +$167,000/Month Food Startup 58. 7 Shopify Alternatives to Create an Online Food Delivery Platform Top Shopify alternatives restaurateurs must consider to develop their online food delivery platform. 59. 6 Smart Digital Health & Fitness Solutions With every holiday season comes a glut of, well, gluttony as we strive to make merry amid calorie-laden food and drink for weeks on end.  Then there’s the predictable diet and fitness-focused New Year resolutions that, however genuinely and well-intended at the onset, can be easy to make—but even easier to break. With this understanding, throngs of tech and online companies are finding innovative ways to keep people engaged and motivated throughout the holiday season and beyond as they endeavor to get fit and healthy...and stay that way. 60. The Future of Protein Have you ever tasted a veggie burger? Are you a vegan? You have a vegan friend, should you turn vegan? Did you ever thought about stop eating meat? Are you aware of animal slaughtering? 61. How Agtech Can Harness China’s Ever-Growing Technological Advantage One area that could benefit from and help foster more growth in China's economy is its agricultural technology (AgTech) scene. 62. Reconstructing Our Food Supply Chains with Blockchain Technology Blockchain technology can streamline and restructure the way that we interpret global supply lines, a change that may be vital for addressing climate change. 63. How Come Junk Food is Still An Epidemic? First part of this article: https://hackernoon.com/junk-food-whats-inside-it-107ar30zv 64. How I Built a Meal Kit Delivery App In a Day Using Stripe, Google Sheets, Glide and Carrd Note: This article is part of my toolkit newsletters↗️ where I share resources about building things. Join me :) 65. How To Develop A Fabulous Self-Service Ordering Kiosk For Your Fast Food Chain Long lines and long wait times frustrate guests and discourage them from returning to your restaurant. World-famous restaurants have come up with innovative ideas to eliminate these sources of frustration. Take McDonald’s as an example: In 2015, they started adopting self-service ordering kiosks that let customers select items, customize orders, and pay. Another good example is Stabucks. They built an app that lets customers order and pay in advance, then pick up their orders at their convenience. Those are just two examples, but there are many more. 66. Introducing a Simple Module for Parsing CSV Files This Slogging thread by  and Arthur Tkachenko occurred in slogging's official #programming channel, and has been edited for readability. 67. 7 Ways to UseRobots in The Food Industry Robots have come a long way. People have been predicting that robots will be a massive part of our lives for decades. That prediction is finally starting to become a reality. We are starting to see robots everywhere, with new innovations arriving on a weekly basis. 68. Food Tech Stories: Amazing Dahmakan [Part 1] Dahmakan is a food-tech startup in Southeast Asia that carries a composed way to deal with food delivery. The organization offers chef-made meals at a cost lesser than other eateries. 69. Chatting about GMO 🎃 This Slogging thread by Arthur Tkachenko and Mónica Freitas occurred in slogging's official #random channel, and has been edited for readability. 70. How to Build Food Delivery App Like Zomato Food ordering industry is the one which has a huge potential. According to the research by Morgan Stanley, online food delivery comprises only less than 5 percent of the total restaurant industry. 71. Meet the Technology of Future Packaging If we have binoculars, we can see the future of packaging. What will it look like in ten years? As far as we know, it's not hard to imagine. 72. How To Improve Nutritional Care of Patients By Using Hospital Nutrition Software Poor nutrition is a significant challenge nowadays. The pace of life is fast, and the time people spend on meal planning is critically tight. It leads to serious health problems including obesity, vascular heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and even cancer. 73. Machine Learning Food Datasets Collection An essential part of my company's Machine Learning team is working with different food datasets, and we spend a lot of time before for searching, combining or intersecting different datasets to get data that we need and can use in our work. Given that it might help someone else, I decided to list all helpful datasets in one place. 74. Organizing Data In Table: A Quick Guide The table is the HTML way to layout the data. We can use tables to structure data in columns and rows. 75. Introducing a Simple NPM Module for Food Measurements Hello! I've created a simple JavaScript module for food measurements. Thank you for checking out the 75 most read stories about Food Tech on HackerNoon. to find the most read stories about any technology. Visit the /Learn Repo

75 Stories To Learn About Food Tech

Welcome Founders! See sample interviews here. , Hey Hackers Grubtech has been nominated in HackerNoon's annual awards in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Startups of the Year Please vote for us here: https://hackernoon.com/startups/asia/asia-dubai-uae Read more about us below to understand why we deserve your vote. Meet Grubtech Grubtech is an end-to-end operating system for omnichannel restaurants and cloud kitchens. Its all-encompassing solution streamlines day-to-day operations with tools and capabilities such as an omnichannel Point of Sale, integration with food aggregators, an interactive kitchen display system, multi-brand menu and recipe management, commercial and operational reporting and analytics, advanced marketing capabilities, a customer management portal, and more. How We're Disrupting/Improving the Software Development Industry Our company has been disrupting and will continue to disrupt the food and beverage industry. For F&B industries, we have developed one platform to streamline and automate your entire kitchen workflows, sync all departments for seamless communication, and spot improvement opportunities - Allowing your business to grow and expand revenue without extra costs. Standing Out from The Crowd With the rise of on-demand food delivery apps, cloud kitchens, and brick-and-mortar restaurants investing in digital transformation, Grubtech is fast emerging as the game-changing technology platform for online food businesses. Its data-driven approach is focused on providing the sector with a suite of end-to-end future-proof solutions and streamlining operations for restaurants, cloud kitchens, and virtual brands so that they can continue to thrive in an ever-changing landscape. Having raised USD 2 million in seed funding, this Dubai-based foodtech startup is spearheading the establishment of the next generation in food and facilitating the expedited activation and scaling of various concepts and brands. Changing customer behaviors and the impact of COVID-19 have made this an even more pressing requirement, and the need for digital disruption in an otherwise tech-scarce sector has never been more important. Our Predictions/Thoughts on the Software Development Industry in 2023 What emerging trends or technologies do you think will have the biggest impact on software development in 2023? Generative AI, ChatGPT, and LLMs. Do you think remote work will continue to be a prevalent trend in the software development industry in 2023 and 2024? Why or why not? We know because of the pandemic that remote work is feasible for not just the software development industry, but many industries, and it has provided opportunities for companies to access a global talent pool without geographical limitations. In the last two years in particular, we have seen many companies moving to a hybrid style of working. I think we will continue to see hybrid work as a key theme in many software companies. Now that both employers and employees can see that hybrid work is effective, and productivity levels have not only been maintained but even exceeded, we will see more demand in companies for this. How do you think the demand for software developers will change in 2023? a. Will there be a shortage or surplus of skilled workers? I think there will still be a demand. While there is an increase in the number of software developers, there have been huge technological advancements in the past couple of years. The rapid pace of technological advancements, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, etc, is expected to continue and these technologies require skilled software developers to design, develop, and maintain the software systems. As well as that organizations across various industries are undergoing digital transformation to stay competitive and meet evolving customer expectations. These companies will need software developers to oversee these changes in their businesses. I think most organizations will see a need to have their own in-house software developers to help support their systems and oversee this new change in business. What company or institution will have the most impact on the industry in 2023? I think Open AI has already had a huge impact on the industry so far this year and will continue to do so. OpenAI's efforts in natural language processing and machine learning research have contributed to the advancement of the field. It has also sparked discussions around the responsible use of AI, ethics, and potential challenges related to bias, privacy, and security. In the past year, we have seen a transformative change in numerous industries, with the increased readiness of companies to incorporate LLMs and other AI solutions into their business operations to streamline processes and operate more efficiently. At Grubtech, we believe in harnessing the power of technology to make a positive impact on the restaurant industry. By leveraging advanced algorithms and real-time data analysis, our system ensures accurate inventory tracking, minimizing overstocking and spoilage. What word defines the state of Software Development in 2023? Innovation, collaboration, and automation. Software development has always been driven by innovation, and this will continue. The software development landscape has increasingly embraced collaboration and teamwork. Automation is becoming increasingly prevalent in software development, with the aim of streamlining processes and improving efficiency. Why we decided to participate in HackerNoon's Startup of the Year awards To offer us increased visibility, networking opportunities, credibility, and potential recognition for our accomplishments. We want to showcase our products and services and gain exposure in the industry. Final Thoughts GrubTech is one of the UAE’s fastest-growing tech startups that enables cloud kitchens and restaurants to successfully manage end-to-end operations using state-of-the-art digital tools and capabilities. GrubTech’s client portfolio has grown rapidly to span fifteen countries, managing millions worth of food orders for large organizations like Delivery Hero’s Talabat (including Expo 2020), and other international food chains like California Pizza Kitchen, Dunkin Donuts, and Paul’s. Grubtech has pioneered omnichannel solutions with the launch of MamasandPapas, and Gap in the GCC, and successfully introduced the region's first two-hour e-commerce delivery promise. We think Grubtech deserves this award because of its cutting-edge innovations and being at the forefront of tech disruption across the GCC regions. Vote for us today!

Grubtech - Revolutionizing UX With Disruptive Tech 

Millions of people order food online today due to two major reasons: convenience and variety. What started as an by Pizza Hut in 1994 has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry today. This has also given rise to a number of food ordering platforms that have taken the internet by storm. experiment Whether it is a full lunch meal, a quick small evening snack, or a huge get-together, food ordering platforms have made a significant impact on our lives today. Revenues in the food delivery sector are slated to reach a staggering which makes it a potential opportunity to invest in. $223.7 billion by 2027 Top Online Food Ordering & Delivery Software To meet the ever-growing customer demands, entrepreneurs are planning to launch online food ordering and delivery platforms. As a result, many software have surfaced in the market with a core emphasis on establishing feature-rich platforms in minimum time. Here are the best online food ordering and delivery software to help budding entrepreneurs make informed decisions. Yo!Yumm Yo!Yumm is a market-ready and fully customizable software that can be used to build an online food ordering and delivery platforms. This is off-the-shelf software that is ready to meet the diverse requirements of online food delivery businesses and provide top-class service to users by managing the cumbersome administrative processes. The software is 100% white label and can be customized as per the specific requirements of the business. Yo!Yumm is built with the latest technology and integrated with a suite of powerful APIs making it a unified platform to launch and run a successful multi-vendor food ordering and delivery business like Uber Eats. Noshway Noshway is a turnkey restaurant delivery software that can be used to build a full-fledged end-to-end food delivery platform. The software also has android and iOS apps for restaurants, customers, and delivery agents. Customers are able to place orders, check order status, and track delivery via the mobile app making it a smooth experience for them. The restaurant app allows staff to manage orders with more accuracy and increase their productivity. The software can also be customized on the parameters of language, location, and currency to have a global reach. Marketing features like loyalty and referral programs help restaurant owners in the marketing of the business. Kopatech Kopatech’s multi-restaurant online ordering system is feature-rich software that can make the operations of a restaurant simple and easy. The software comes with multiple offerings like website ordering, branded mobile apps, customer insights, management tools, dedicated customer support, and much more. From accepting orders to delivering and generating custom reports, the software streamlines the cumbersome process for owners. The software’s order management module includes updated order status, delivery completion, and reject/accept orders making it smooth for the restaurant owner to manage the platform. The software is built using complex coding systems making it easiest and safest for all users. The compatibility of the software to be integrated with multiple payment gateways makes it an unbeatable software in the market. Foodesoft Foodesoft is great for making food delivery apps similar to Justeats, Glovo, or UberEats. The software has apps for Android and iOS users from where they can order food and track their orders. Business owners can build websites with the latest technologies to manage their menus and orders. The restaurant and delivery apps built using Foodesoft improve the user experience of restaurant owners and customers. Multiple payment options like cash, wallet, PayPal, debit cards, and credit cards make it easy for the customers to pay for their orders. Foodesoft supports multiple currencies and languages including RTL on both mobile and web platforms. SpotnEats SpotnEats is an UberEats clone software that allows business owners to start a mobile app-based food delivery system without having to invest in expensive and bug-ridden software. The software is completely brandable and customizable which can also be scaled as per the business requirements. The software is available for both Android and iOS users. SpotnEats claims to be tested on multiple businesses and is capable of handling massive activity simultaneously and performing flawlessly. The software also comes with full customization, deployment, and maintenance support. Business owners do not require any technical knowledge for using the software. Delivety Delivety is an all-in-one food order management system best suitable for food delivery startups, catering companies, virtual restaurants, restaurant chains, online food deliveries, dark/ghost/cloud kitchens, and standalone restaurants. From order taking and food preparation to dish assembly and order delivery, Delivety enables to deliver faster than the competitors. The system comes pre-integrated with powerful analytics and reporting to eliminate the bottlenecks and streamline the processes in food delivery operations. The operator dashboard of Delivety manages operations in real-time to provide a better customer experience. It can also be used remotely allowing operators to work from any location. The kitchen and assembly dashboard reduces human errors to zero and helps in getting the orders ready faster. Parting Thoughts If you are a budding entrepreneur and yet to join the bandwagon of the online food ordering industry, you are missing out on some great opportunities for your business. By adopting one of these softwares to build your online food ordering and delivery platform, you don’t just simplify the lives of your customers, but also ensure that your business is able to stand tall in the competitor market. Disclosure: This story was submitted to HackerNoon by an independent contributor. Hence the information contained therein has also been researched and compiled independently.

Want to Build an Online Food Delivery Platform? Here Are Some Options

Earlier this year, a surprisingly good feta pasta dish went viral on TikTok. It wasn’t the first viral recipe on TikTok, and it certainly wasn’t the last. Now TikTok is going to do something that no other company like it has done before: start a restaurant. Well, a virtual restaurant. Just like MrBeast Burger, it will be delivery-only, with an assortment of restaurant kitchens doing the actual cooking. The menu will feature TikTok dishes like feta pasta, pasta chips, smash burgers, and corn ribs, with a menu that rotates every quarter. It’s a marketing thing TikTok Kitchen is more about promoting the platform than starting a restaurant company. And the food will be very different from normal restaurants, featuring the trendiest dishes instead of long-time favorites like burgers and fries. The restaurant will begin serving in 2022 with 300 locations, with over 1,000 locations by the end of the year.  It’s unclear how long this campaign will last; it’ll probably depend on how well it does and how much profit it makes. This may or may not become a permanent restaurant. How does it work? TikTok will be running this as a “virtual restaurant” in partnership with Grubhub and Virtual Dining Concepts. Virtual Dining Concepts uses the concept of “ghost kitchens” or “cloud kitchens.” The ghost kitchens prepare food under different brand names in a single kitchen and distribute it nearby via Grubhub. It’s a sort of “Uber for restaurants,” where restaurants that are struggling financially or want to maximize profits can sign up to start preparing food for other brands, such as MrBeast Burger, in the same kitchen. Any restaurant can fill out a if they want to start serving TikTok food. form Virtual Dining Concepts has partnered with many restaurants and has worked with Guy Fieri, Steve Harvey, Mariah Carey, Tyga, MrBeast, NASCAR, and others. On the one hand, they help small businesses by giving them an alternative income source. On the other hand, they promote monopolies because small restaurants become reliant on a big company to give them business. Small Businesses don’t get all the profits from their sales, because a significant portion goes to Virtual Dining Concepts, TikTok, and Grubhub. Stealing from creators? Is it ethical for TikTok to profit off other people’s work on their platform? TikTok says that they will be giving users credit for their creations and even giving them a cut of the sales. But many questions still remain unanswered. How much will users be paid? How will TikTok determine the original creator of the recipe? For instance, the feta pasta was originally created and promoted by Jenni Häyrinen before being posted to TikTok. And what happens if the original creator doesn’t want their dish being used in TikTok Kitchen? I haven’t read the terms and conditions, but it’s likely that users give TikTok the legal rights to distribute and profit off of their content. While there are some ethical questions, I think this new restaurant is a really great idea. Because they are such a big company, and because this is such an unusual concept, they automatically get publicity - like this article! I think a lot of people will be interested and will check it out, but it will only be successful long-term if it can actually provide value to people. It’s easy to make a virtual restaurant, but it’s harder to make one that feels real; one that people want to keep coming back to. Check out the related and reports, and follow my new , where I’ll post more great stories about tech and programming. TechCrunch Bloomberg Twitter account

What is TikTok Kitchen and How Does it Work?

Cloud kitchens are referred to as ghost kitchens, shadow kitchens, virtual, or dark kitchens. In any case, the essential idea is as yet the equivalent. Eateries have no physical space and are present online. Meals can be requested through aggregator applications or through the eatery's own application, yet the eateries themselves don't have eat-in facilities. A couple of these eateries may likewise provide take-out services to their clients. food The present concept of the dark kitchen was laid down in India. Thus, , supported by Sequoia, was the first to start the . This is how Faasos appeared. Today, Rebel Foods has more than 9 brands and recently raised $125 million and is valued at $525 million. Faasos Food Services is an Indian "food on request" organization that was consolidated in 2011. The organization rebranded itself as Rebel Foods in 2018. Rebel Foods business Rebel Foods works in Dubai and 34 of the biggest urban areas in India and takes client orders by means of its and site. It is the main vertically coordinated food business in India and includes every one of the three phases of a "food on request" business: order, fulfill, order fulfillment. app Being #1 in its niche, it gets 10,000 requests per day across India and has recorded a development pace of 20-25 percent month-on-month. The organization has scaled up activities to 22 urban areas, with more than 125 fulfillment centers in three years. Faasos or Rebel Foods raised its first round of financing of US$5 million from Sequoia Capital in November 2011, following a second round of US$20 million in February 2015 from Lightbox Ventures and Sequoia Capital. A third round of subsidizing got them US$30 million in December 2015. Faasos has brought over ₹41 crores up in April 2017 out of an all-inclusive Series C round of subsidizing. Revolutionary nourishments, the parent organization of Fassos also brought them $125 million of subsidizing. In 2019 cloud kitchen Rebel Foods has received from Indonesian ride-hailing major Gojek as part of the Mumbai-based company’s ongoing series D round. It makes it the largest cloud kitchen restaurant company, with over 1500+ restaurants and provides the service across 16 cities via online . US$5 million food delivery Read the whole story here: In brief: Indian cloud kitchen Rebel Foods secures $5m from Gojek Read more yummy stories: Created by Tatsiana Isakova What's Inside Junk Food? How Come Junk Food is Still An Epidemic? Machine Learning Food Datasets Collection Meal Planning Introduction Digital Transformation of Restaurant Industry Will Amazon Go Grocery Improve Our Shopping? How Italy Fighting with Food Waste How Walmart is Growing Food Subscription Business Food Tech Stories: Yummy Trends in 2020 Credits Photo by on Brooke Lark Unsplash Photo by on Jannis Brandt Unsplash Photo by on Anna Pelzer Unsplash Photo by on iMattSmart Unsplash

Food Tech Stories: How An Indian Ghost Kitchen Received $5M From An Indonesian Investor

In Southeast Asia cloud kitchens are undermining the eating out model, working directly from singular cooking settings, and delivering directly to clients' doorsteps. This phenomenon is also known as delivery-only kitchens, ghost kitchens, and dark kitchens. Eliminating client seating, cooling, and lighting means lower lease expenses and charges. This, in turn, diminishes the need to hire serving staff. Every one of these cut downs acquires for itself the better economies of scale while taking into account buyer inclinations. Food delivery companies are wandering into their cloud kitchens, while reputable restaurants are launching their delivery satellite kitchens to guarantee more extensive reach and fast delivery to their clients. Dahmakan, a food start-up situated in Malaysia, uses undesirable retail spaces to prepare meals using computerized orders. Cooking specialty meals to the majority may even now be troublesome, particularly when we are talking about the cost of the nourishment. Yet, Dahmakan team has figured out how to combine proportional food production while keeping up quality and keeping costs at 30 percent beneath practically identical eatery costs. Dahmakan is a delivery service that uses artificial intelligence in coordinations and cooking mechanization. It supplies hundreds of hungry customers  around Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya, and Subang Jaya to Putrajaya and Cyberjaya. The organization consolidates unified, huge scope creation with client information, AI, and the culinary specialists in the business to offer food delivery experience. It applies artificial intelligence to last-mile delivery offering the most minimal delivery costs in the business. This start-up has already become a prominent figure in the local food industry. This genius team has figured out how to bring the experience of chef-cooked food to customers whenever they want. Everything is simple, yet effective - Dahmakan simply delivers the best food at your convenience at reasonable prices. As you can guess, this Malaysia-based cloud kitchen startup cannot go unnoticed. Thus, they have raised upwards of US$5 million in a Series A round prior to the launch of its distribution satellite kitchens in the country. This brings the company’s total raised capital to roughly US$10 million. According to Dahmakan CEO, financial infusions will be used to help its development in new and existing markets. Read the whole story here: Cloud kitchen startup Dahmakan banks $5m in series A round Created by Tatsiana IsakovaRead more yummy stories: What's Inside Junk Food?How Come Junk Food is Still An Epidemic?Machine Learning Food Datasets CollectionMeal Planning IntroductionDigital Transformation of Restaurant IndustryWill Amazon Go Grocery Improve Our Shopping?How Italy Fighting with Food WasteHow Walmart is Growing Food Subscription Business Credits Photo by Brooke Lark on UnsplashPhoto by Brooke Lark on UnsplashPhoto by Ali Inay on UnsplashPhoto by Krisztian Tabori on UnsplashPhoto by Cristiano Pinto on Unsplash In Southeast Asia cloud kitchens are undermining the eating out model, working directly from singular cooking settings, and delivering directly to clients' doorsteps. This phenomenon is also known as delivery-only kitchens, ghost kitchens, and dark kitchens. Eliminating client seating, cooling, and lighting means lower lease expenses and charges. This, in turn, diminishes the need to hire serving staff. Every one of these cut downs acquires for itself the better economies of scale while taking into account buyer inclinations. Food delivery companies are wandering into their cloud kitchens, while reputable restaurants are launching their delivery satellite kitchens to guarantee more extensive reach and fast delivery to their clients. Food delivery Dahmakan, a food start-up situated in Malaysia, uses undesirable retail spaces to prepare meals using computerized orders. Cooking specialty meals to the majority may even now be troublesome, particularly when we are talking about the cost of the nourishment. start-up Yet, Dahmakan team has figured out how to combine proportional food production while keeping up quality and keeping costs at 30 percent beneath practically identical eatery costs. Dahmakan is a delivery service that uses artificial intelligence in coordinations and cooking mechanization. It supplies hundreds of hungry customers  around Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya, and Subang Jaya to Putrajaya and Cyberjaya. service The organization consolidates unified, huge scope creation with client information, AI, and the culinary specialists in the business to offer food delivery experience. It applies artificial intelligence to last-mile delivery offering the most minimal delivery costs in the business . This start-up has already become a prominent figure in the local food industry. business This genius team has figured out how to bring the experience of chef-cooked food to customers whenever they want. Everything is simple, yet effective - Dahmakan simply delivers the best food at your convenience at reasonable prices. As you can guess, this Malaysia-based cloud kitchen startup cannot go unnoticed. Thus, they have raised upwards of US$5 million in a Series A round prior to the launch of its distribution satellite kitchens in the country. This brings the company’s total raised capital to roughly US$10 million. According to Dahmakan CEO, financial infusions will be used to help its development in new and existing markets. Read the whole story here: Cloud kitchen startup Dahmakan banks $5m in series A round Read the whole story here: Cloud kitchen startup Dahmakan banks $5m in series A round Cloud kitchen startup Dahmakan banks $5m in series A round Created by Tatsiana Isakova Read more yummy stories: Created by Tatsiana Isakova What's Inside Junk Food? How Come Junk Food is Still An Epidemic? Machine Learning Food Datasets Collection Meal Planning Introduction Digital Transformation of Restaurant Industry Will Amazon Go Grocery Improve Our Shopping? How Italy Fighting with Food Waste How Walmart is Growing Food Subscription Business What's Inside Junk Food? What's Inside Junk Food? How Come Junk Food is Still An Epidemic? How Come Junk Food is Still An Epidemic? Machine Learning Food Datasets Collection Machine Learning Food Datasets Collection Meal Planning Introduction Meal Planning Introduction Digital Transformation of Restaurant Industry Digital Transformation of Restaurant Industry Will Amazon Go Grocery Improve Our Shopping? Will Amazon Go Grocery Improve Our Shopping? How Italy Fighting with Food Waste How Italy Fighting with Food Waste How Walmart is Growing Food Subscription Business How Walmart is Growing Food Subscription Business Credits Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash Photo by Ali Inay on Unsplash Photo by Krisztian Tabori on Unsplash Photo by Cristiano Pinto on Unsplash Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash Brooke Lark Unsplash Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash Brooke Lark Unsplash Photo by Ali Inay on Unsplash Ali Inay Unsplash Photo by Krisztian Tabori on Unsplash Krisztian Tabori Unsplash Photo by Cristiano Pinto on Unsplash Cristiano Pinto Unsplash

Food Tech Stories: Amazing Dahmakan [Part 2]

Dahmakan is a startup in Southeast Asia that carries a composed way to deal with food delivery. The organization offers chef-made meals at a cost lesser than other eateries. food-tech A Cloud Kitchen is something that is on the ascent in recent years. Individuals are burnt out on the traffic and the futile time spent out and about and afterward holding up in line in the café and afterward trusting that the nourishment will be cooked. Instead, you can order food from a cloud kitchen and appreciate the comfort of your home. The distinction between Cloud Kitchen and the ordinary kitchen is that a cloud kitchen has no dine-in option. It is likewise not the same as an aggregator as it would sell through these aggregators or have its own requesting application and delivery framework. Dahmakan is the project of previous representatives of Foodpanda-Jonathan Weins, Jessica Li, and Christian Edelmann. The essential reason for Dahmakan is to remove the mediator from the delivery and pass the incentive back to the shoppers. Dahmakan utilizes AI in coordinations and preparing mechanization to make the delivery reasonable to a great many office laborers in Southeast Asia. The establishment of the startup's full-stack stage is a working framework that controls almost every progression of its tasks, from formula improvement to last-mile delivery, and its cloud kitchens are a piece of "satellite" centers put around various urban communities to be nearer to clients. Rather than delivering from cafés, Dahmakan makes its own meals, offering around 40 choices every week from a database of 2,000 dishes. It chooses its week by week menu dependent on client information, including nourishment inclinations and ways of managing money, alongside statistical surveying. In February the team has announced that it has raised US$18 million in a Series B funding round led by Rakuten Capital. start-up The start-up is hoping to use proceeds from the subsidizing to assist its development in new and existing markets. The startup additionally plans to grow its administration group and dispatch new distribution channels, for example, inking associations with commercial centers and expanding the extent of its own delivery administrations. food delivery Read the whole story here: Cloud-kitchen startup Dahmakan raises US$18m in Series B round Read more yummy stories: Created by Tatsiana Isakova What's Inside Junk Food? How Come Junk Food is Still An Epidemic? Machine Learning Food Datasets Collection Meal Planning Introduction Digital Transformation of Restaurant Industry Will Amazon Go Grocery Improve Our Shopping? How Italy Fighting with Food Waste How Walmart is Growing Food Subscription Business Food Tech Stories: Yummy Trends in 2020 Credits Photo by on Lily Banse Unsplash Photo by on Brooke Lark Unsplash Photo by on Angela Bailey Unsplash

Food Tech Stories: Amazing Dahmakan [Part 1]

Based on this story: Food and Restaurant Trends 2020 We have already barreled into the roaring 20s (nice pun, ha?) that haven’t  been welcoming or hospitable, to say the least. Let’s leave alone all the chaos that is happening around us now and focus on something pleasant and familiar like food for example. Of course, the food industry has been better and the outbreak is hitting the global food business. But let’s hope for the better. Usually, the nourishment and food industry is consistently attempting to foresee, shape, and exploit moving consumer patterns and inclinations. Food trends, new ingredients, and changing customer tastes are reshaping the way that individuals will communicate with cafés, bars, and even organizations themselves in 2020. And, that’s pretty significant, regardless of whether you're on the customer or the organization side of things. Overall, in 2020, you'll see nourishment patterns inclining ceaselessly from guilty pleasure and into a more health-minded place — and with guarantees like better gut wellbeing and higher supplement density. So what’s on tap for 2020? According to finedininglovers.com, the first trend is . This trend has been there for quite a long time, but this time it is taken to a whole new level. With such a large number of conceivable outcomes and lines of disclosure still unexplored, it never fails to bring the unfamiliar flavor. fermentation Next on the list are Low-Alcohol beverages. Millennials are trying to cut down on their alcohol consumption which is a great thing. And beverage companies are leaning in. New companies offer alcohol-free tipples that are nice enough to pour in a glass and still feel fancy. Heirloom varieties, like rye and barley and ancient grains, have made it to the list too. They ground from grains initially domesticated a great many years ago. These grains are present in grocery store bread, healthy pasta, and treats. They are considered as extraordinarily nutritious and are great for gluten-intolerant people. In 2019 and 2020 people have fallen back in love with fresh pasta, which is no surprise. Are they rejecting clean eating and queuing around the block for plates of pasta? Maybe. Anyway, pasta is back in the game and is not going to leave any time soon. Also, pasta’s popularity on photo-sharing sites is ridiculous. is another interesting 2020 trend. An offshoot of the food delivery trend is cloud kitchens aka ghost kitchens. Cloud kitchens’ shared spaces are made for delivery-only restaurants. This format gives the café the adaptability to more than a brand utilizing a similar kitchen framework. Cloud kitchen is another staple this year. It has to do with sustainability and organic approach.  This type of agriculture includes cultivating and grazing practices that, among different advantages, reverse the environmental change by remaking soil natural matter and reestablishing debased soil biodiversity – bringing about both carbon drawdown and improving the water cycle. Regenerative agriculture are featuring prominently in the food industry in 2020 as well. We are slowly moving away from traditional diets deemed universal (like Mediterranean, for instance). Functional foods can be characterized as dietary things that, other than giving supplements and vitality, helpfully regulate at least one body function, by upgrading a specific physiological reaction as well as by diminishing the danger of sickness. Functional foods They may also protect against disease, prevent nutrient deficiencies, and promote proper growth and development. So the feature where all good diets will be individually tailored is already on the doorstep. And last but not least comes . Not the trend you would expect, wouldn’t you? But these are harsh realities. The more we eat and experiment with food, the more food waste we produce. This problem is not easy to tackle, but the progress has been made with governments making laws and common people pitching in. food waste Read the whole story here: Food and Restaurant Trends 2020 Read more yummy stories: Created by Tatsiana Isakova What's Inside Junk Food? How Come Junk Food is Still An Epidemic? Machine Learning Food Datasets Collection Meal Planning Introduction Digital Transformation of Restaurant Industry Will Amazon Go Grocery Improve Our Shopping? How Italy Fighting with Food Waste How Walmart is Growing Food Subscription Business If you share this story - Google will delete all cookies from your devices. Credits Photo by on Joseph Gonzalez Unsplash Photo by on Jason Briscoe Unsplash Photo by on Joshua Hoehne Unsplash Photo by on Charles Deluvio Unsplash Photo by on Aleksandr Eremin Unsplash Photo by on Krista Stucchio Unsplash Photo by on Charles "Duck" Unitas Unsplash https://www.foodnetwork.com/healthy/packages/healthy-every-week/healthy-tips/fermented-fundamentals Photo by on Shalitha Dissanayaka Unsplash

Food Tech Stories: Yummy Trends in 2020

Happy New Year!  2019 has come and gone like Kylo Ren’s reign in The Rise of Skywalker, and so it's time for my annual prediction piece. But first, a quick look at the score card for my : 2019 predictions 2019 saw numerous trials, including at carnivals in Nice, France, airports in Las Vegas, and public housing in Detroit. Of course bans of the technology has already occurred, too, in cities like San Francisco and Somerville, MA. Facial recognition trials will launch in large public venues outside of China. Grade:  A I predicted this space would reach a third of the value of the workflow platform space by the end of 2019. With Databricks hitting $6.2 billion in value, ThoughtSpot achieving a $2 billion valuation, and many others, I nailed this one. Enterprise analytics will become red hot. Grade:  A I said we'd see "major automobile manufacturers actively acquire or sign new partnerships with various tech companies to avoid becoming irrelevant in the near future." Hyundai's $4 billion self-driving joint venture with Aptiv, Toyota’s $100 million fund for autonomous driving, and Daimler and BMW's partnership to develop autonomous driving technologies are a sampling of the moves made in 2019. Car companies will begin transforming into tech companies. Grade:  A+ Hear those ads?  (chirp, chirp). Voice advertising will be stalled. Grade:  A+ 2019 saw headlines like “Data science dominates LinkedIn's emerging jobs ranking," but I believe this trend needs to ferment a bit more like a good batch of kimchi. It takes time to train and develop new waves of data scientists. According to LinkedIn, over the past three years data scientist jobs experienced a 37% hiring growth. I also know of a large pharmaceutical company that laid off over 1,000 research scientists and hired nearly 500 data scientists, but these type of hiring trends aren’t strong enough to call them the new “call center reps." Data scientists will become the new call center reps. Grade:  B- I also want to revise the grade on one of my 2018 predictions. I gave myself a F after my bet that China and five other OECD nations would fell flat. on that one. I'm confident many other nations will quickly follow China’s move. National cryptocurrencies. launch their own cryptocurrencies in 2018 But China did come through in 2019, so I’m going to bump my score up to a “B” This coming year will be filled with more exciting advances and changes in the tech industry even with an economic downturn looming, so here are my predictions for 2020: What we can look forward to in 2020 1. Cloud kitchens will become a multibillion dollar industry Launching a new restaurant in the largest cities is riskier than launching a tech startup. The restaurant business is a in the U.S. alone and is begging for efficiencies. " " -- virtual restaurants that cater solely to delivery -- have emerged as a solid trend. They eat up far less real estate costs than traditional restaurants and capitalize on the many new on-demand food-delivery companies, such as UberEats, Deliveroo, and . I see taking place. (A cloud-kitchen startup that was in my accelerator program in Korea was recently snapped up in an acquisition just 6 months after our investment, despite me trying to convince the founder to ignore the offer.) $799 billion industry Cloud kitchens their ilk big opportunities within this space in 2020, with a couple of unicorns being formed and a few acquisitions 2. Gibson’s and Chicago Cut will serve Impossible Food’s meat substitute To be honest, I’m not a fan yet of Impossible Foods or Beyond Meat, but my taste buds do not matter with this prediction. The real prediction is that these plant-based meat substitutes are becoming so pervasive that they will infiltrate two of my favorite steakhouses in the world. in the U.S. The drivers are climate change and the practical fact that these newer meat substitutes taste good to meat lovers. For 2020, I predict meat substitutes will penetrate over 10% of restaurants 3. 5G will sputter searching for the right services Beyond the hype of 5G, there are limitations to the millimeter wave-based network part of 5G and many network build outs are behind in the U.S. Regardless, the most important aspect about 5G's adoption is content and services. Games on phones and VR headsets (i.e. Oculus Quest, Hololens) with 5G chips are a given, but what else? There will be adoption, but not a mad rush in 2020 for 5G devices and services. The real rush won't come until more services that fully utilize 5G appear. 4. We'll see a global movement towards a cashless world Even with all the talk about Alipay and WeChat Pay, , but globally we are far from a cashless world. Even last year, when speaking at a conference in Berlin, I had to walk five blocks to find a store that accepted credit cards to buy a bottle of water. China uses cash more than the U.S. (40% vs. 37%). South Korea is the lowest at 14% But we will get there because the younger generation is driving this cashless world (i.e. Venmo), and the technology is finally good enough that people can easily forgo cash. This year will see various online payment systems (PayPal, Crypto, Apple Pay, Google Pay, etc.) pick up bigger adoption, shifting the average cash usage of the 10 countries listed here to below 45% (vs. 55%): And beyond .... Since we're also at the start of a new decade, here are a few more predictions of what the world will look like by the time we hit the next decade in 2030: 1. Technology will bring back suburban development Discussions of trends for denser urban environments are almost becoming like what diet has the most impact… Keto saved my life!  Plant-based is the way to go! Mediterranean diet is the game changer! (I just started the Potato diet, so do not send me pictures of ribs, bacon or filet mignon.) So my prediction here is one more addition to the current mix of ideas of where urban development is trending. I believe that the development of autonomous vehicles (e.g. cars, buses, trucks), cloud kitchens, , and other new technologies will shift the population trend and real estate development back towards suburbs and even to the outskirts of major cities over the next decade. The concept of commute time will become different with autonomous cars since people can sleep more, work, do home finances or whatever they please while in transit. A welcome outcome of this reverse mega-city trend would be the stabilization of or decrease in real estate prices, especially in cities such as San Francisco and New York. drone delivery 2. Technology tribes will begin to coexist with nations scares the bejesus out of nations and threatens their sovereignty, so during 2020 they continue to fight like a cornered rat against its launch. But the very concept of Libra signals the beginning of something new: the development of technology tribes that exist outside of sovereign nations -- or coexist with them. Facebook’s Libra As technology becomes more ubiquitous and the digital divide closes, new generations will develop stronger affinities with specific tech communities than with ethnicity or race. The coming decade will show beginnings of this trend, but it will become really palpable 20 or 30 years out. 3. The next Mark Zuckerberg will be from outside Silicon Valley Until recently the tech world has been divided into two groups: Silicon Valley and everyone else. But the world is becoming flatter now in terms of entrepreneurial knowledge and execution. The venture capital and investor quality along with Silicon Valley’s “pay it forward” culture will strengthen across other global startup ecosystems over the coming decade to the point where we will see the next Zuckerberg rise out of what we currently deem a second-tier startup city. is cofounder and Partner at , a network of accelerators and venture capital funds. Bernard Moon SparkLabs Group ( originally published in VentureBeat )

2020: Our Meatless, Cashless, City-less Future 

Another Softbank Portfolio Company That Has Toxic Culture and No Clear Path to Profitability “The culture is really very toxic.” Those were the words of Mohammad Jahanzeb Gul, who supervised 23 Oyo properties for nine months since January 2019. In a startup growing so blazingly fast even after almost a decade since its founding, Jahanzeb often found himself staring at the computer all day and night to meet deadlines. In this growth stage, current and former works are feeling the increasing pressure, which brought about a slew of toxicity. Some, are simply the inherent nature of a growth-stage startup. Some, are simply criminal acts. Regardless of how Oyo spins their press release to claim that they are ensuring strict adherence to their Code of Conduct, it was clear that those mandates were either riddled with wrongdoings or lacking a moral compass. To some, it contributed to their decision to leave. “There’s something called integrity,” said Saurabh Mukhopadhyay in a New York Times article, “I can’t compromise on that.” It is clear why Mukhopadhyay would resign from the company: Oyo was rife with non-compliant, fraudulent and predatory business practices. Just last year, Oyo founder Ritesh Agarwal and his representatives were under a criminal breach of trust, after a hotelier alleged that the trio cheated him of about US$149K. booked by Bengaluru police In another report, a Bengaluru hotelier cited criminal conspiracy, abetment and criminal breach of trust. He claimed that Oyo , then marking them as no-show or cancellations, just to give the illusion that the hotel is being booked constantly. frequently created non-existent room bookings The company also frequently withheld payments from hotel owners: in some cases, they wanted to squeeze hotel owners into renegotiating contracts that it deemed unprofitable. In other cases, the company wanted to save money, figuring that most owners would not press for full payment. “If 1,000 people shout, we will pay 200.” That also contributed to Saurabh Sharma’s decision to leave, who was the operations manager from 2014 to 2018. “If 1,000 people shout, we will pay 200,” as some Oyo managers told Sharma. The fraudulent, predatory practices don’t just stop there. According to The New York Times, Oyo often listed thousands of rooms from unlicensed hotels and guesthouses. According to Mukhopadhyay, under the pressure to add new rooms, employees even brought hotels that lacked air-conditioning, water heaters or electricity onto the platform. These unavailable properties were inserted complete with fake photographs. It’s all one giant shell game, despite Agarwal claiming to be devoid of . “corporate governance issues” As such, Oyo is now facing a series of regulatory investigations and legal run-ins, as evidenced by their with the Competition Commission of India. prima facie case Across the country, hoteliers are dropping off from the platform in the hundred. Hotel and restaurant associations in Gujarat, Mumbai, Delhi, and other major India cities are also boycotting their booking portal . To top it off, Agarwal himself is being sued by hoteliers too. Betz Fernandez, the owner of Bengaluru-based Roxel Inn, claimed that for the last five months. Oyo has not paid rent Yet, to Oyo, they would rather placate the authorities by giving the police and other government officials free rooms on request, according to a WhatsApp group in which The Times reviewed. This was despite , former Oyo CEO and current board member, claiming that they “do not encourage or involve [themselves] in any kind of bribery or graft.” Aditya Ghosh With all the contradictory statements and legal disputes, Oyo is now, very obviously, falling apart. Cracks in the business model and depleting war chests are quickly making it . look like Softbank portfolio company (and counterpart) WeWork Agarwal may be optimistic about his company, even though he claimed to not have guidance on . Unfortunately, the reality is that WeWork’s troubles have , from bleeding billions per year down to the . “when [they] will be profitable” quickly spiraled out of control smallest of things Oyo is looking like they’re on the highway to WeWork-land and they have broken the speed limits a long time ago. Yet Another Bubble Priming to Pop “ ”—a quote by the aforementioned Oyo operations manager in this story—seems less like a prophecy and more of a fact at this point when you look at the burgeoning losses and questionable financial practices. It’s a bubble that will burst Despite so, Agarwal claims that it is “ before getting [to profitability]”. only a matter of time A valuation report filed by the company with the Registrar of Companies showed something entirely different, as Oyo’s operating expenses ballooned by 390%, resulting in a $331 million net loss. Besides hemorrhaging in their homeground India, efforts to expand overseas have also flopped. In Japan, their “Project Yukichi” code-named sales initiative . Yahoo Japan even between them and Oyo December last year. failed to reach ambitious goals exited the joint venture Ambitions in China are also marred as Oyo prepares to , according to China news site 36Kr, to which Oyo . Yet, China alone accounted for about in 2019. layoff at least half of its China team heavily denies 40% of Oyo’s company-wide losses Softbank’s Shakiest Bet No matter how you look at it, Oyo is burning cash faster than they can produce them. While observers may marvel at Oyo’s meteoric expansion, the unfettered growth came at a heavy price. As the in the world, Oyo has transformed from a lodging startup to a terribly pieced conglomerate. third-largest hotel chain Despite mounting losses, Oyo still managed to acquire @Leisure Group for and Las Vegas Hooters for . They also made their foray into , , , , , and even . $415 million $135 million co-working homes resorts vacation rentals weddings cloud kitchens With Agarwal’s fervent product diversification, it seems like the capital moat they had is gradually drying up. That’s unfortunate news, as Masayoshi Son recently told Oyo and other loss-making Indian startups in a private gathering: , with a for an IPO in the United States. get profitable before IPO hard deadline of 2022–2023 If Oyo were to survive till their IPO and actually make their public debut unlike , what kind of multiple would they have? Unlike most startups, Oyo has seemingly inflated its valuation artificially they raised money through . embattled co-working giant WeWork loans backed by pledged shares After taking out bank loans pledged by his stake in Oyo, Argawal bought back shares worth $1.5 billion from venture capital investors Sequoia Capital India and Lightspeed Venture Partners. A consortium of Japanese financial groups including Nomura and Mizuho helped to finance Agarwal’s purchase. It’s an unusual transaction as Argawal puts more skin in the game—a show of faith in the business model by giving the company more resources to grow with all the risk shouldered by the founder himself. After WeWork’s at the end of 2019, we’re now looking at Oyo potentially experiencing the same. spectacular implosion Oyo previously enjoyed huge growth as they undercut themselves to get more hoteliers on the platform, yet, with profitability in mind, they would even withhold payments just to save money. Public market disappointments like Uber, Lyft, and Peloton have also shifted the needle in the startup scene. Coupled with a and , more than anything. tepid global economic outlook tightened venture capital funding entrepreneurs now need to focus on profits As such, Softbank’s bet on Oyo seems to be one of the most uncertain in their portfolio. However, the Japanese conglomerate is still blazing forward with their “gutsy” investment choices, despite their new tech fund , according to the Telegraph. falling shy of their target Softbank is still dishing out big checks , according to Pitchbook, with about 85% of the Vision Fund being deployed in unique deals. With an operating loss of $8.9 billion in the fund, Softbank needs more financial commitments to keep its investment strategy going. Unfortunately, the likes of Microsoft, Amazon, and Foxconn are not able to give them Vision Fund 2; Softbank has only announced Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund in the mix, with no Saudi Arabian and Abu Dhabi money in sight. Rather than claim that Oyo’s financial sheets will sort themselves out in time, it would be more realistic to expect their downfall. Oyo needs to shave off their loss-making ancillary business as soon as possible, double down on the regions most likely to make a profit in the short term, then fix their culture issues. Regardless, turning their circumstances around is going to be extremely tough. Despite having more customers check in to Oyo, more hoteliers are checking out, joining other platforms or going independent. In a battle for market supremacy, winning that battle in the first decade may prove to be Oyo’s reason to losing it in the next decade.

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