Just Kitchen Holdings Corp. (“JustKitchen” or the “Company”) (TSXV: JK) (OTCQB: JKHCF) (FRA: 68Z), a technology focused and enabled operator of ghost kitchens specializing in the development of delivery-only food brands, is pleased to announce it has signed a royalty-based Virtual Kitchen Services Agreement (the “Agreement“) with Cloud Retail Solutions Private Limited doing business as Kitchens Centre (“Kitchens Centre“), which is located in New Delhi, India. Effective April 16, 2022, the Agreement makes JustKitchen’s portfolio of food brands available for delivery in the large, new Indian market, which is planned to be authorized and deployed in multiple tranches.
Pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Agreement, Kitchens Centre has agreed to perform all services related to order intake and fulfillment including, but not limited to, food preparation, packaging and coordination of order pick-ups by third-party delivery service providers. In exchange for making its portfolio of approximately 30 food brands available to Kitchens Centre in India, JustKitchen will receive a percentage of net receipts on all orders and has agreed to provide access to its manuals and portals, provide training to Kitchens Centre’s personnel, complete inspections and execute a mutually agreed upon a marketing strategy, among other terms.
“We are thrilled to partner with JustKitchen to quickly ramp up its presence in all tier 1 cities in India within the year. With great recipe development capabilities by both Kitchens Centre and JustKitchen’s culinary team, specialized ghost kitchen SOP’s , and wonderful customer experience, we are confident that JustKitchen’s brands will be an instant hit in the country” said co-founder and CEO, Lakshay Jain of Kitchens Centre. Kitchens Centre is the largest co-shared kitchen space provider in India with over 1000 kitchens, in 80 locations in over 25 cities and it works with more than 350 brands. The business aims to provide young food entrepreneurs with access to the cloud kitchen space. It also provides opportunities to established brands, like those of JustKitchen, to expand into new markets and explore business prospects in food delivery-centric locales across India.
Kitchens Centre also offers facilities on a kitchen-as-a-service (“KaaS“) to its clients. KaaS is a service that provides a well-equipped, ready-to-use kitchen to anyone who wants to either start their new culinary venture or wants to expand to new locations without adding physical stores.1 Kitchens Centre provides ready-to-move-in, compliant delivery-based commercial kitchens to food and beverage brands aiming to reduce overhead costs for businesses, along with many other benefits. More information about Kitchens Centre can be found on its website: https://www.kitchenscentre.com/
Management Commentary
“We are excited to enter the large Indian market, which is yet another new market for JustKitchen in 2022. Expanding our footprint across Asia and deploying our tasty proprietary menus plus third-party brands to new customers, in a scalable and asset-lite model, continues to be at the core of our competitive strategy. And Kitchens Centre’s innovative business model makes our collaboration very exciting to will certainly expedite our growth,” said Jason Chen, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of JustKitchen. “To have Kitchens Centre offer JustKitchen’s delivery-based brands to a significant new group of consumers in India is aligned with our mission of providing people around the world with authentic, high-quality and easily accessible food, all enhanced by the power of technology,” added Mr. Chen.
ABOUT JUSTKITCHEN
JustKitchen is primarily a technology focused and enabled operator of ghost kitchens specializing in the development and marketing of proprietary and franchised delivery-only food brands for customers. The Company currently conducts business in Taiwan, Hong Kong, India, the Philippines and Singapore with plans to expand operations to other Asian countries. JustKitchen uniquely utilizes a hub-and-spoke operating model where appropriate, which features advanced food preparation taking place at larger hub kitchens and final meal preparation taking place at smaller spoke kitchens located in areas with higher population densities. The Company combines this operating model with online and mobile application-based food ordering fulfilled by third-party delivery companies, to minimize capital investments and operating expenses and reach more customers in underserved markets. The Company’s other business, JustMarket, is an e-commerce grocery delivery platform that allows customers to purchase groceries for delivery or add select grocery items to meals ordered through JustKitchen.
For more information about the Company, please visit investors.justkitchen.com. JustKitchen’s final prospectus, financial statements and management’s discussion and analysis, among other documents, are all available on the Company’s profile page on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This news release contains certain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of such statements under applicable securities law. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as “anticipates”, “plan”, “continue”, “expect”, “project”, “intend”, “believe”, “anticipate”, “estimate”, “may”, “will”, “potential”, “proposed”, “positioned” and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions “may” or “will” occur including but not limited to the Company’s comments regarding making JustKitchen’s portfolio of food brands available for delivery in the large, new market of India for the first time; and authorizing and deploying food brands in multiple tranches. These statements are only predictions. Various assumptions were used in drawing the conclusions or making the projections contained in the forward-looking statements throughout this news release. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made and are subject to a variety of risks, including those risk factors identified in the Company’s prospectus dated March 26, 2021, and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. The Company is under no obligation, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable law.
