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Travis Kalanick’s new firm is expanding — this time in London

FoodStars has more than 100 commercial kitchens

Travis Kalanick's City Storage Systems is expanding outside the U.S. It recently snapped up a London-based start-up (Credit: Getty, iStock)
Travis Kalanick's City Storage Systems is expanding outside the U.S. It recently snapped up a London-based start-up (Credit: Getty, iStock)

Travis Kalanick’s new venture — which aims to build a web of kitchens that cater to delivery-only restaurants — has expanded for the first time outside the United States.

Kalanick’s City Storage Systems (CSS) quietly picked up FoodStars, a London-based startup also focused on the food-delivery industry, the Financial Times reported.

Last year Kalanick, the former Uber CEO who resigned amid a series of scandals at the ride-sharing company, invested $150 million in Los Angeles-based CSS. The firm has previously said it would buy distressed real estate, particularly retail, industrial and parking assets, with the aim of repurposing them for digital-age enterprises. The company’s CloudKitchens brand, meanwhile, works to provide kitchen space to delivery-only restaurants.

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FoodStars, founded in the east London neighborhood of Bethnal Green in 2015, is another “dark kitchens” company. It has more than 100 commercial kitchens around London, leasing the sites to restaurants that need extra space and those that only deliver, according to the outlet.

“CSS is excited about its early 2018 investment in the FoodStars real-estate portfolio,” the company told FT. “The deal included properties developed as commercial kitchen space in the London metropolitan area. We anticipate this space will help fuel job creation as local food entrepreneurs look to expand food preparation and production across London.”

Aside from this recent London play, Kalanick reportedly may expand City Storage into Asia as well, FT previously reported.

On this side of the pond, City Storage also has acquired some real estate. In New York, for example, the company has bought at least four commercial spaces in Manhattan and Queens for roughly $39 million. [FT] — Mary Diduch

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Commercial Real Estate