The partnership will provide Kroger’s grocery store customers with on-demand meal pickup and delivery from popular restaurants. Kitchen United ghost kitchens at select Kroger stores will feature up to six local, regional or national restaurant brands.
Shoppers will place an order by using the Kitchen United website or app, or by ordering at kiosks in the grocery stores. The first kitchen is expected to open this fall at a Ralphs store in Los Angeles, with additional locations expected to come online later this year.
“Kitchen United recognizes the significant value of Kroger as a strategic partner,” Chief Executive Michael Montagano said in a statement, “Our work together provides participating restaurants access to millions of Kroger customers and the ability to better address off-premise demand in a convenient supermarket format.
“We’ve worked collaboratively with the Kroger team to curate a mix of popular restaurant brands, and we see a great opportunity to introduce our partnership in cities across the country,” he added.
Kitchen United, founded in 2017, operates ghost kitchens in Santa Monica; Santa Clara; Chicago; New York; Austin, Texas; and Scottsdale, Ariz., and plans to add another 15 facilities to its network this year.
Its proprietary MIX ordering platform facilitates orders for multiple restaurant concepts. The system integrates with delivery apps to schedule pickups and synchronizes cook times, so orders from multiple menus can be served up at the same time.
