Operations

Local Kitchens opens 3 digital food halls in San Francisco

Provided

April 15, 2021

Local Kitchens, a digital food hall concept, has opened locations in Lafayette, San Jose and Cupertino, California. Customers may create meals from any of the locations' restaurant partners, mixing and matching cuisines from comfort food to vegan and vegetarian, CEO Jon Goldsmith said in a company press release.

"When COVID forced the world to shelter in place, we wanted to find a way to help San Francisco restaurateurs reach their customers who were no longer commuting into the city," said Goldsmith, who created Local Kitchens alongside COO Andrew Munday and CTO Jordan Bramble. "We've partnered with great San Francisco restaurants to help them expand to new cities and thrive in pandemic and post-pandemic times."

Each location features eight to 10 restaurants reflecting the diversity of the San Francisco Bay Area's cuisine and the people within its communities. Current restaurant partners include Curry Up Now, Glaze, Humphry Slocombe, The Little Chihuahua, MIXT (gourmet salads), Proposition Chicken, Saucy Asian, Señor Sisig and Wise Sons.

"Curry Up Now is thrilled to accelerate our expansion plans with Local Kitchens and bring our food to more Bay Area communities," said Akash Kapoor, founder and CEO of Curry Up Now. "Cupertino is one of our most requested cities to open a location. We are very excited about this new opening,"

Local Kitchens allows customers to place orders online or in-person via touch-screen kiosks. Within minutes, customers receive a text message alert when their order is ready.

Unlike a ghost kitchen, a warehouse facility intended solely to prepare meals for delivery, each Local Kitchens site features a storefront and a dedicated takeout customer experience with staff hired from the local communities, Goldsmith said. All menu items are cooked on-site by Local Kitchens' chefs, trained by their restaurant partners.

"Our staff is highly engaged with the Local Kitchens' team to ensure the perfect execution of our offerings," Ari Feingold, owner of Proposition Chicken, said in the release. "Quality and consistency are top priorities for us, and Local Kitchens seamlessly delivers on both aspects."