Reef Technology is putting virtual restaurants in parking garages
The Miami-based Reef Technology parking facilities company is launching Reef Kitchens: a hub for delivery-only ghost kitchens
Reef Technology — the Miami, Fla.-based parking facilities technology company — has entered the world of the virtual restaurant with its Reef Kitchens division, which will put delivery-based cloud kitchens inside their parking facilities.
Reef Technology has 5,000 parking facilities across North America, calling each of their parking garages and lots an “ecosystem hub” with a digital platform that offers ticketless parking for customers. Several years ago, Reef Technology’s legacy company ParkJockey began partnering with UK-based food delivery company Deliveroo to combine their parking real estate with demand-based delivery services.
In early 2019, SoftBank Vision fund made a “substantial investment” (speculated at hundreds of millions of dollars) into what was then known as ParkJockey. The company relaunched the brand as Reef Technology in June, with plans to move beyond simply parking garages.
Soon after, Reef Technology took their delivery-only restaurant kitchen concept to the U.S., where they began putting virtual restaurants and cloud or ghost kitchens inside their high-tech parking facilities, and currently partner with all of the major U.S. food delivery services, including Uber Eats, DoorDash and Grubhub.
“People value their time and convenience and one example where [we’ve looked into that] is our Reef Kitchens,” Reef Technology CMO Alan Cohen said. “Restaurants have this ability to expand their footprint without spending any capital by using one of our delivery-only kitchens. Then, people who live within that market radius can get their food hot and fresh whenever they want simple because there is a Reef Kitchen somewhere nearby.”
Reef Technology calls their in-garage ghost kitchens, “vessels” and customizes their capabilities based on customer needs. Some house only one brand, but the kitchens are capable of hosting up to five restaurants in one vessel.