Ghost Kitchens Acquires Speak Burgers To Strengthen Premium Food Delivery Folio

Cloud kitchen incubator Ghost Kitchens has acquired celebrity chef Vicky Ratnani-owned gourmet cloud kitchen startup Speak Burgers for an undisclosed amount.

The acquisition will enable Ghost Kitchens to foray into the premium segment with high spending power. As per the foodtech platform, the move is in line with its vision to create a basket of premium food delivery brands that operates on Swiggy and Zomato. 

As part of the deal, Ratnani will join Ghost Kitchens as chief culinary officer and cofounder. The company also announced that it will launch three new brands in partnership with Ratnani in the mass premium and the cloud kitchen categories. This, according to Ghost Kitchens, would enable it to scale its offerings and add an additional 400 fulfilment partners over the next three years.

“With our presence in 40 cities, we have gaps in supply of premium brands, which we will quickly fill through this collaboration,” said founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Ghost Kitchens Karan Tanna.

Speak Burgers plans to scale its presence to more than 200 locations in the next three years through fulfilment partner programmes.

Founded in 2019 by Jayendra Vandravandas Tanna and Karan Tanna, Ghost Kitchens operates a fund and an incubator focussed solely on cloud kitchens. The platform currently works with 160 fulfilment partners in around 40+ cities for its own portfolio of brands. It has more than 1,200 digital-focussed restaurants in 42 cities across the country. 

It claims to have brands such as Wakka Wakka, Biryani Hazir Ho, Momo Guy, Starboy Pizza And Shakes, and Maa Ki Khichdi, among others in its portfolio. Ghost Kitchens had an annual GMV run rate of INR 60 Cr at the end of December 2022. The startup aims to scale its offerings to more than 4,000 internet restaurants in the next one year and is targeting an annual run rate of INR 500 Cr by 2024-end.

In October 2022, the company said that it had plans to invest INR 50 Cr over the next one year to scale operations

So far, the startup has raised $1.2 Mn across two funding rounds from investors such as Yuj Ventures, Dholakia Ventures, and Salarpuria Family office, among others. 

Ghost Kitchens primarily operates in the cloud kitchen domain, which is populated by big names such as Rebel Foods, FreshMenu, Box8, and Faasos, among others. 

According to a report, the homegrown cloud kitchen market stood at $400 Mn at the end of 2019. This number is projected to surge to $2 Bn by 2024.