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☆ Travis Kalanick's $15 billion food tech company cuts employees globally in profitability push
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-03 | by ( Meghan Morris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read previewSix months after layoffs at food technology company City Storage Systems, another round of cuts hit teams globally, per leaked audio obtained by Business Insider. More than 80 US employees were cut at Otter, the company's restaurant tech arm, said a source familiar with the people laid off. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. In fall 2021, CEO Travis Kalanick raised $850 million for CSS from investors including Microsoft, at a $15 billion valuation.

Persons: —, Guido Gabrielli, Otter, Travis Kalanick, Kalanick, Uber, Gabrielli Organizations: Service, Storage Systems, Business, CSS, Microsoft, BI Locations: Canada, Latin America

☆ Travis Kalanick's CloudKitchens loses its chief financial officer
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-02 | by ( Meghan Morris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The chief financial officer of City Storage Systems, the umbrella company of Travis Kalanick's foodtech juggernaut, left last month, two employees told Business Insider. Before City Storage Systems, Curran spent more than a dozen years at Amazon, where he was most recently the vice president of finance and chief financial officer for the international consumer business, per his LinkedIn. His social-media profile lists a January end date for his latest role, the chief financial officer of "stealth startup." City Storage Systems is a multifaceted effort to reinvent food production, just as Kalanick aimed to upend the taxi industry by founding Uber. Tech and real-estate businesses such as City Storage Systems face challenges, including inflation and higher interest rates.

Persons: Travis Kalanick's, John Curran, Curran, Uber, Kalanick Organizations: Storage Systems, Business, City Storage Systems, Uber, LinkedIn, Otter, Tech, Systems

☆ A virtual restaurant brand run by robots is operating inside Travis Kalanick's CloudKitchens. Here's how it works.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Better Days, a virtual brand assisted by robots, officially debuts today. Better Days by Remy Robotics wants to scale its wellness brand to 500 locations in five years. Wellness food brand Better Days is officially debuting today inside Travis Kalanick's CloudKitchens commissary kitchens. Remy Robotics founder and CEO Yegor Traiman left his job as an electric-vehicle engineer five years ago to launch Remy Robotics. Better Days, a robot-run virtual restaurant in New York City, sells chef-driven dishes like this salmon meal.

Persons: Remy, —, there's, Travis Kalanick's, Uber, Yegor Traiman, McDonald's, Jose Andres, El, Ferran Adrià, Traiman Organizations: Remy Robotics, Service, Disney Locations: New York City, White, Chipotle, Europe, Brooklyn

☆ After job cuts at Travis Kalanick's food tech startup, an exec discusses challenges and rallies staff with bullish comments on Future Foods
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( Meghan Morris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A particular focus was an Otter business called Future Foods. But now, Future Foods is generating healthy revenue, relative to the cost of customer acquisition. He did not disclose revenue for Future Foods or other businesses on the call. 'Healthy tension'Gabrielli did admit there's a "healthy tension" with the Future Foods team, saying that they "tend to sandbag a little bit their capabilities." Future Foods also asks would-be customers if they maintain at least a four-star rating on one delivery app.

Persons: Travis Kalanick, Uber, Otter, Guido Gabrielli, Gabrielli, it's Organizations: Storage Systems, CSS, Otter, Tech, Foods, Future Foods

☆ Everyone is going bankrupt
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . WeWork, the real-estate company that cosplayed as a tech startup, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week. AdvertisementAdvertisementBut one Wall Street veteran believes WeWork will be the first of many companies to succumb to a similar fate. 3 things in marketsANGELA WEISS / Getty ContributorCan the stock market keep this momentum going?

Persons: —, AFTRA, Tesla, Brooks Kraft, It's, WeWork, David Trainer, Jennifer Sor, Insider's Vishal Persaud, Katie Notopoulos, Adam Neumann, we've, ANGELA WEISS, Jeff Gundlach, OpenAI's, Google's Bard, Min, Uber, Travis Kalanick's, Matthew Tortoriello, Sherrod Brown, Malte Mueller, Dan DeFrancesco, Naga Siu, Hallam Bullock, Lisa Ryan Organizations: Service, SAG, Hollywood, Tech, Google, Brooks Kraft LLC, Getty, Wall, P, Bank of America, Wall Street, Nasdaq, ExxonMobil, Tesla, Apple, Brooks, Amazon, YouTube, NFL, News Corp, Sony Locations: French Montana, New York City, San Diego, London, New York

☆ Travis Kalanick's $15 billion ghost kitchen company lays off staff
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Meghan Morris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Travis Kalanick's ghost kitchen company laid staff off on Wednesday. In 2021, Kalanick raised $850 million at a $15 billion valuation for the company. The cuts come as tech and real estate companies rethink staffing needs in a more difficult market. Travis Kalanick's ghost kitchen company cut jobs on Wednesday, two employees told Insider. It wasn't immediately clear how many CSS employees were affected.

Persons: Travis, Kalanick Organizations: Storage Systems, Staff

☆ CloudKitchens, ghost restaurant news and updates
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-25 | by ( Meghan Morris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

In 2021, Kalanick raised $850 million at a $15 billion valuation from backers including Microsoft. One, a physical ghost kitchen arm called CloudKitchens in the US, transforms mainly warehouses into private kitchen spaces that big companies and mom-and-pops alike can rent. 2021 fundraiseTravis Kalanick Theo Wargo/WireImageIn late 2021, CloudKitchens' parent company raised $850 million at a $15 billion valuation, Insider exclusively reported. Some entry-level sales employees have struggled at Otter, Insider reported. CloudKitchens US locationsA 2021 Insider analysis showed how CloudKitchens (and competitor Reef) snapped up properties across the US.

Persons: Travis, Kalanick, Travis Kalanick, Uber, –, fundraise Travis Kalanick Theo Wargo, CloudKitchens, John Curran, they're, Sawyer, Meghan Morris Organizations: Microsoft, Morning, Storage Systems, CSS, Investors, Uber, Financial, City Storage Systems, Wall Street, Amazon, CIA, Otter Locations: Los Angeles, Saudi, Miami

☆ Inside Otter University: How Travis Kalanick's sales boot camp for young techies went off the rails
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-17 | by ( Meghan Morris | Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +21 min

"It seemed like a cool, innovative new company," Lam said. Starting in early 2022, the company poured millions of dollars into an experimental sales boot camp called Otter University. She joined the company in 2020 as Otter's head of sales enablement and helped dream up the idea of a sales boot camp a year later. Two former OtterU employees said that Law and another Otter executive urged managers to join their teams for late-night drinks following team dinners. But the late nights and free-flowing alcohol struck some OtterU employees as inappropriate for the workplace, especially when managers had to deal with hungover teams the next day.

Persons: Brian Lam, messaged, Travis, Lam, Uber, It's, Kalanick, voraciously, they're, Otter, wasn't, salespeople, Cory Epstein, Phoebe Law, Law, people's, –, Kalanick's Uber, Otter's, Kate, Samul Beal, I'd, Beal, didn't, terminations, he'd, OtterU, I'm, grads, Salespeople, Guido Gabrielli, Keith Dunphy, Dunphy, Bram van Staalduinen, Phoebe Law's, Debra Glaser, Jen Zablotny, there's, Ordermark, Burger, Meghan, Darius Organizations: Texas, Otter, Storage Systems, Microsoft, Otter University, Law, Adobe, SAP, Houston, OtterU, hungover, NCR, Google, Brands, Houston Rockets Locations: Korean, Houston, Toronto, LA, Las Vegas, Miami, Seoul, South Korea, Houston ., OtterU, Otter, Canada

☆ MrBeast sabotaged his own burger brand, his restaurant partner claims in a new lawsuit. The YouTube star recently sued the ghost kitchen operator, accusing it of making 'terrible quality' food.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Last week, YouTube star MrBeast sued the restaurant firm behind his namesake burger brand. YouTube star Jimmy Donaldson used his fame to "torpedo" the burger brand, the VDC suit says. The lawsuit comes a week after Beast Investments sued Virtual Dining Concepts alleging that VDC had ignored the MrBeast Burger Brand. MrBeast Burger debuted in 2020 and is sold in hundreds of restaurants seeking to use excess kitchen space to earn additional revenue. The reality is that the overwhelming majority of customers were highly satisfied, and the product was excellent," the VDC suit said.

Persons: MrBeast, Jimmy Donaldson, Donaldson, Burger, MrBeast Burger, Donaldson's, Travis Kalanick's CloudKitchens, Dorothy Calba Organizations: Concepts, YouTube, Service, Beast Investments, Dining, Twitter, Burger, Kitchen United, Euromonitor Locations: Wall, Silicon, New York, MrBeast, Florida, Washington

☆ MrBeast says 'ghost kitchen' partner is hurting his brand with 'terrible quality' burgers
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The burgers' 'terrible quality' was the fault of a business partner, he alleged in a new lawsuit. His company alleged complaints raised to partner Virtual Dining Concepts “fell on deaf ears.”Get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in business, from Wall Street to Silicon Valley — delivered daily. Reef, which sells MrBeast Burger, has logged multiple consumer complaints about uncooked burgers, Insider previously reported. Representatives for Virtual Dining Concepts did not respond to Insider's request for comment. Insider's Brittany Chang wrote last year about eating a "mediocre burger" at a physical MrBeast burger joint in New Jersey's American Dream mall.

Persons: MrBeast, Jimmy Donaldson, Donaldson's, Travis Kalanick's, Burger, Brittany Chang Organizations: Service, YouTube, Beast Investments Locations: Wall, Silicon, New

☆ OpenAI's mysterious new headquarters features nap rooms, a two-story library, and lounges for viewing both sunrise and sunset, according to planning documents
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

It's only fitting then that OpenAI should have a headquarters befitting its status as the vanguard of new AI revolution. But the company has kept details about its San Francisco headquarters a closely guarded secret. A reporter for Insider was even less successful, turned away by a security guard on an intercom who refused even to confirm or deny the existence of an OpenAI office at the location. But we may now have some hints about what it's like inside the offices of the world's most famous AI company, thanks to architectural plans and planning documents viewed by Insider. "It's an impressive space," said Peter Eisenbeiser, a city official who performed the final inspection of the 1960 Bryant Street space.

Persons: OpenAI, Peter Eisenbeiser, Travis Organizations: San Francisco's Mission, Microsoft, San, San Francisco, Florida Street, Bay, Eaton Hall, Architects, Boston Consulting Group Locations: San Francisco's, London, San Francisco, Florida, Seattle

☆ 10 Things in Tech: Apple Vision Pro, Big Tech's big AI salaries, and Marc Andreessen's plan to save the world
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Nathan Rennolds | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Apple Vision Pro. Apple's Vision Pro looks amazing, but why buy it? The Vision Pro also comes with a host of caveats beyond the price tag, such as a battery life of just two hours. Read more about the Apple Vision Pro's limits here. He said AI companies should be able to build fast and aggressively — and without regulation.

Persons: Nathan Rennolds, let's, Tony Fadell, Apple, Salesforce's Marc Benioff, Justin Sullivan, Marc Benioff, Marc Andreessen, Travis Kalanick's, Adam Beswick, he's, grads, Z, Leigh Thompson, Jack Sommers Organizations: Apple Vision, Apple, Companies, Meta, Sony, Getty, Salesforce, Amazon, Oracle, Big Tech, CloudKitchens, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Sequoia Capital, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University Locations: London

Mobile ordering and delivery have boosted Starbucks' bottom line and have become an incremental and growing part of the business. Starbucks would not share specifics on the size of its delivery business but has previously said the segment has seen a 20% year-over-year growth. CloudKitchens, which rents small, private kitchen bays that share a reception, offers one solution to delivery growth. Starbucks plans to open the San Francisco ghost kitchen on August 22 and operate it from 7am to 6pm, per a March filing with the city. The ghost kitchen will not sell alcohol.

Persons: Uber, —, Travis Kalanick, Laxman Narasimhan, Travis Kalanick Steve Jennings, CloudKitchens, Pat Grismer, Brady Brewer, Gloria Dawson, Darius Rafieyan, Meghan Morris Organizations: Starbucks, Service, CloudKitchens, Mobile, Buffalo Wild Wings, Getty, TechCrunch, Food Locations: Francisco, San Francisco, China, New York

☆ A former Googler who sued for pregnancy discrimination says tech giants should be held accountable, especially as pregnant workers get laid off
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Thomas Maxwell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Former Googler Chelsey Glasson acknowledges that the recent tech downturn could stifle dissent from people who may face pregnancy discrimination. She's speaking about her experiences in a book she is publishing called "Black Box: A Pregnancy Discrimination Memoir." In addition, 1 in 5 mothers said they experienced pregnancy discrimination in the workplace. One change that could help the industry would be some means of making funding available for people suing over pregnancy discrimination, she added. "Black Box: A Pregnancy Discrimination Memoir" will be published on August 29.

☆ No, 'Stranger Things' star Noah Schnapp didn't open his own restaurant. It's the latest 'virtual brand' offering from IHOP.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Thousands of virtual brands continue to flood delivery apps like Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub. IHOP is launching a third delivery-only brand – a chicken menu by a "Stranger Things" star. Partnering with Noah Schnapp and Nextbite were a seamless fit to meet the consumer target for our newest Virtual Brand." Stranger Things star Noah Schnapp helped create a virtual chicken menu for IHOP. Nextbite's other celebrity-backed virtual brands include Packed Bowls by Wiz Khalifa and 'Wichcraft sandwiches by Tom Colicchio.

☆ How to Spot a Ghost Restaurant on DoorDash, Grubhub, and Uber Eats
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Thousands of virtual brands are flooding delivery apps like Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub. According to a joint report by Grubhub and the market-research firm Technomic, 41% of independent restaurants are operating virtual restaurants. Uber Eats and GrubhubUber Eats and Grubhub do not label virtual brands. Our perspective is that a virtual restaurant is a real restaurant," Uber Eats told Insider. The Miami address for the virtual brand Sam's Crispy Chicken is listed as "MIA07-2" on the Uber Eats app.

☆ Travis Kalanick's CloudKitchens startup is cutting jobs as a pandemic-era surge in food ordering subsides
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Nancy Luna | Meghan Morris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

CloudKitchens, the richly valued startup founded by former Uber chief Travis Kalanick, is cutting jobs as a pandemic-era boom in online food ordering subsides and a recession looms. The ghost kitchen operator has shed corporate recruiting employees, a move made to get closer to profitability, according to a person close to the matter. On November 1, employees on the recruiting team were asked to attend an impromptu Zoom meeting, described as a "global update." Tunna said Kalanick's goal is for CloudKitchens to be profitable next year, and with that, the startup has to make some changes, according to the witness. CloudKitchens raised about $850 million last fall from backers, including Microsoft, in a round that valued the startup at $15 billion.

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