Founded by the former CEO of ride-share giant Uber, CloudKitchens is rapidly expanding its "virtual" restaurant kitchen locations across the United States and has opened its second San Diego collective in the San Diego State University College Area.
In 2018, Uber cofounder and former CEO Travis Kalanick (who is played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt in HBO's Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber) invested $150 million in a startup called City Storage Systems, which bases its business on repurposing under-utilized real estate buildings to become spaces for new industry sectors, such as online food delivery. The following year, City Storage founded CloudKitchens, which now has more than 40 locations across the country, including in metropolises like New York City, San Francisco, Nashville, Philadelphia, Houston, Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, and several in Los Angeles. Once CloudKitchens renovates and outfits its buildings, it then leases spaces to national chain and independent food purveyors for "virtual" take-out & delivery-exclusive eateries that do the majority of their business via online delivery apps like UberEats, Postmates, GrubHub, Doordash, etc., with only some locations housing onsite dining area. In early 2021, CloudKitchens opened its first San Diego outpost, dubbed the Barrio Food Hub, a 10,000 square-foot warehouse that can house more than 50 eateries.
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| The bacon classic burger from Smash & Dash at Aztec Food Hub. |
Like other CloudKitchens location, the College area branch has a central pick-up window and tablets for delivery drivers to sign in, a large flatscreen listing order updates, and a waiting area with onsite bathrooms for drivers. There will also be a kiosk to allow for walk-up take-out orders. Patrons are also invited to bring their food to neighboring The Ugly Dog Pub if they'd like to eat it hot and fresh with a cold beverage. At least one more CloudKitchens outposts is expected to open in San Diego County.
Virtual, online-only "ghost kitchens" are a growing business trend as diners more frequently choose to have meals delivered rather than eating at restaurants. Many delivery-exclusive ghost kitchen concepts now operate in San Diego, including FlavorTown Kitchen by Guy Fieri, MrBeast Burger, George Lopez Tacos, and Reef Technologies also has plans to launch a ghost kitchen in the heart of San Diego's La Jolla Village.
Aztec Food Hub is located at 6334 El Cajon Boulevard in San Diego's College Area. For more information, visit aztecfoodhubsd.com.
Aztec Food Hub is located at 6334 El Cajon Boulevard in San Diego's College Area. For more information, visit aztecfoodhubsd.com.
