For some budding restauranteurs, CloudKitchens might sound like a great opportunity to get off the ground. The service, owned by Uber founder and ex-CEO Travis Kalanick, promises restaurateurs delivery-only kitchens in rented warehouse spaces with low startup fees. But a report from Insider reveals that many CloudKitchens operators are struggling to keep their business alive due to a lack of both safety and technical support.
One restauranteur told Insider she was met with a clogged sink and filthy oven hood during her first day on the job. That wasn’t all — she also had to deal with a clogged toilet, faulty sink, and a pile of garbage in her parking lot, contradicting the on-site maintenance, cleaning, and trash services CloudKitchens says it will provide on its website.
Issues like these are driving operators away from CloudKitchens. Three former sales agents at CloudKitchens told Insider that 70 percent of the kitchen operators at their locations threw in the towel not even a year after starting, while another salesperson told the outlet that 90 percent of their operators quit within just three months.
As noted by Insider, CloudKitchens has already been sued four times in the past year, with operators accusing the company of deceptive business practices. This report isn’t the only evidence of potential mismanagement at CloudKitchens, either. Another report from Insider details a high turnover rate and a misogynistic internal work culture that’s all too reminiscent of the toxic work environment that plagued Uber while under Kalanick’s rule.