- David Chang’s Fuku was a superior-profile manufacturer that sold food stuff via ghost kitchen area startup Reef.
- Fuku slice ties with the startup subsequent experiences of food items safety troubles inside trailers run by Reef.
- The fried hen chain now strategies to develop nationally by doing the job with Reef rival Kitchen United.
David Chang’s common fried hen restaurant Fuku has dropped its partnership with ghost kitchen operator Reef Engineering and is now doing work with the startup’s competitor, Kitchen United.
On Wednesday, Southern California-based mostly Kitchen area United announced a new partnership to increase Chang’s Fuku manufacturer nationwide. Fuku’s very first ghost kitchen with Kitchen United opened on December 15 in Santa Monica, California.
Michael Montagano, CEO of Kitchen United, claimed the firm is “honored to be selected by Fuku and glimpse forward to sharing it with our fellow Fuku admirers across the region.”
Last week, Insider exclusively claimed that Fuku had ceased its partnership with Reef.
Fuku’s exit will come amid studies of operational chaos at Reef, a speedy-escalating ghost kitchen area startup backed by SoftBank.
The business has elevated $1.5 billion in venture cash and struck partnerships with countrywide chains these kinds of as Wendy’s, Burger King, and TGI Fridays.
Insider beforehand claimed on Reef’s health department violations, weak performing problems, and customer grievances of raw and undercooked food.
Multiple run-ins with wellness inspectors in New York City, Houston, Detroit, San Francisco, Minneapolis, and Austin, Texas, have led to Reef temporarily shutting down meals trailers in all those cities.
Past week, Insider received leaked e-mails and photographs displaying a pattern of customer problems of uncooked and undercooked food items coming out of Reef mobile kitchens across the US. A the greater part of the issues reviewed by Insider were classified as “undercooked food items” from manufacturers such as Fuku.
That exact week, Fuku reported it was no lengthier doing work with Reef.
Alex Munoz-Suarez, CEO of Fuku, stated in a assertion that Kitchen area United shares Fuku’s “enthusiasm for executing a speedy-to-sector method whilst protecting extremely substantial brand name and kitchen area functions criteria.”
Kitchen area United
Kitchen United is a pioneer in the ghost kitchen place that contains Reef and Travis Kalanick’s CloudKitchens. The startups have diverse versions, while.
Reef cooks food stuff for manufacturers under licensing offers, while Kitchen area United rents kitchens to chains looking to develop their shipping and delivery footprint. CloudKitchens has a related model to Kitchen area United. Reef’s trailers are situated predominantly in parking tons, though Kitchen United’s ghost kitchens are available to shoppers and are related to food stuff halls. CloudKitchens has also experimented with the food stuff corridor product.
Kitchen United’s 1st kitchen area facility opened in 2018 in a retail district in Pasadena. Considering that then, Kitchen United has developed to 9 destinations throughout the US, which include Scottsdale, Arizona two in Chicago Austin, Texas San Jose, California, and New York Metropolis. This yr, the company expanded its services in New York right after acquiring New York-based ghost kitchen operator Zuul.
Fuku commenced as a secret fried hen sandwich offered at Chang’s famed Momofuku Noodle Bar in New York Metropolis. He opened the to start with Fuku in 2015 in the East Village. Fuku will extend to new and current Kitchen United places across the place, which includes Texas and New York Metropolis, where Fuku currently operates brick-and-mortar places to eat, each companies claimed Wednesday.