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Dubai-based Sweetheart Kitchen raises €15m in new funding

Virtual kitchen brand to expand its number of brands by five

October 11, 2020

Dubai-based virtual kitchen brand Sweetheart Kitchen has raised €15m in Series C funding.

The round was backed by strategic investors and led by Sweetheart Kitchen CEO Peter Schatzberg. The new funds add to the €21m raised in the previous round.

The funds will be used to expand its current 30 brands with the launch of five additional concepts. Sweetheart Kitchen also plans to expand its network of kitchens to 12 in the UAE and seven units in Kuwait by Q1, 2021. Further expansion into Saudi Arabia is in the pipeline by the second half of 2021. The company recently launched its fourth kitchen in the Raffa area of Dubai.

Some of the funds will also be used to optimise its food delivery supply technology.

“We invest most of our funding into supply chain technology, food design and hiring talent,” said Schatzberg. “This will continue into 2021, as we are just fifteen months old and we are still perfecting our business model. Scaling units is certainly one important objective for us, but we are also investing in streamlining our processes and systems to achieve profitability.”

Read: UAE residents ditch fries for salads in the wake of Covid-19: report

Sweetheart kitchen is a delivery-only multi-brand virtual kitchen with a portfolio of quick service and fast-food concepts including Wingo, Avocado Bravo, Affordabowls and Training Day. It is among a growing number of delivery-only food businesses that are leveraging data, on-demand transport infrastructure, and strategically placed kitchens to deliver quick service food in under 20 minutes.

Parent company BySWHK has implemented LEAN system to measure and supervise its value chain, in real-time and remotely, allowing the company to monitor raw materials, expiry dates and match supply with demand.

According to a new report published by Allied Market Research, the global cloud (virtual) kitchen market size was valued at $43.1bn in 2019, and is estimated to reach $71.4bn by 2027 with a CAGR of 12.0 per cent from 2021 to 2027.