Muscle Maker announced that it has signed a lease and a letter of intent to open two new ghost kitchens in the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn in New York City. Upon opening, the company will be operating nine ghost kitchen facilities, covering three major cities within the U.S.
Each ghost kitchen location will serve all three of the company’s food concepts including Muscle Maker Grill, Healthy Joe’s and Meal Plans AF. These locations will provide food to customers via 3rd party food delivery applications i.e. DoorDash, GrubHub, Seamless, UberEats, Postmates, ChowNow and Caviar. The Manhattan location is unique in a sense that, while it will operate as a ghost kitchen, its location offers forward facing capabilities for guests. The location is situated in a walk-up food court setting, and once restrictions are lifted in NYC at the end of this month, will give customers not only the opportunity to pick up food for themselves but a place to sit down and eat it as well. We believe this combination will bode well in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan where high end residences are mixed with commercial buildings. The Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan is one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the country with a median age group of 35 and with the ability to serve roughly 3.5 million people within a one-mile radius.
Similar to the ghost kitchen locations in Chicago, the Brooklyn kitchen located in the thriving Williamsburg neighborhood, will act as a stand-alone ghost kitchen. With a median age of 30 years old, Williamsburg demographics are favorable to both our product offering and the delivery only model. Healthier lifestyle practices trend heavier within this age group and we believe the neighborhood is ripe for heathier food options.
Michael Roper, CEO of Muscle Maker Grill, says, “With the additional capital raised during this last financing, the company is in a stronger financial position to continue executing on our non-traditional growth path. We are continuing to look for opportunities for ghost kitchen locations which will allow us to expand into new neighborhoods and major metropolitan areas across the U.S. Both locations in NYC reach thriving neighborhoods and further our ability to blanket key markets. The Tribeca location will allow for NYC residents and the people who work there the opportunity to access all of our ’healthier for you’ food options with the click of a button as well as give them the option to go for a walk and pick up food for themselves. New York City has been heavily affected by Covid-19, transitioning many restaurant goers into online food delivery customers. Our two ghost kitchen locations should be well positioned to support the growing need for online healthy food options. We look forward to providing investors with an update when these locations come online and to being able to speak to many similar situations in the near future.”
