Ghost kitchen company Kitchen United has acquired software and ghost kitchen developer Zuul. The agreement marks Kitchen United’s first acquisition and strengthens the company’s position in the restaurant delivery industry. Terms were not disclosed.
“As one of the first ghost kitchens in the New York City market, Zuul has laid a foundation that will further enable expansion of this type of business model in a massive, key market,” Kitchen United CEO Michael Montagano said. “As we looked for opportunities to continue to build upon our leadership position and scale into new territories, strengthening our platform with the addition of Zuul and its cutting-edge ZuulOS technology made strategic sense.”
Zuul started as a ghost kitchen but moved into software in 2020. The company raised $9 million and set out to build a platform that helps ghost kitchen operators manage the kitchen, orders and production. The company developed a platform that was useful to the industry.
Zuul Market and ZuulOS were designed to drive profitable food delivery for operators. Unique to Zuul, its ZuulOS enables operators to create their own virtual food halls and fulfill multi-brand orders effortlessly. The company also powers native online ordering and batched deliveries. Zuul Market allows established operators to create an innovative food delivery program under an existing brand.
“We look forward to this next chapter for our company, and I’m very proud of our team for establishing a valuable, one-of-a-kind business,” said Corey Manicone, co-founder and CEO at Zuul. “Kitchen United has built the dominant ghost kitchen business for the restaurant industry, and we share the same goal of offering restaurants cost-efficient, low-risk ways to tap into the ever-growing consumer demand for off-premise food.”
The Zuul Kitchens executive team will remain intact and the Zuul brand will be incorporated into the Kitchen United brand. The existing Zuul facility at 30 Vandam Street in Manhattan will transition to a Kitchen United MIX kitchen center.
