Popafood inaugurates its dark kitchen with eight restaurants in Toulouse
On April 18, the kitchen without dining room will open avenue Honoré Serres in Toulouse with eight different restaurants. Contacts with other brands are in progress. Nearly 400 meals a day will be produced on site.
Popafood’s Dark Kitchen project took a few months of delay in its work but will open on April 18th. Located on avenue Honoré Serres near the Chalets district in Toulouse, the multi-brand restaurant offers eight different cuisine brands (Brazilian restaurant, pizzas, burgers, Laotian and Thai dishes, childhood dishes, etc.). Each occupies a fully equipped kitchen unit to prepare meals for take-out or delivery only. There is no dining room at Popafood like in all “ghost kitchens”.
€1 million investment
Orders will arrive via apps like Uber Eats or Deliveroo before Popafood launches its own app by June. “The openings of our tenant restaurateurs will be spread out until May to reach eight boxes marketed. It’s a start on the twelve boxes we are content with,” assures Eric Descargues, the co-founder of the concept with Florent Garin. They invested more than 1M€ in the project. Contacts are also underway with Vapiano, an Italian restaurant chain and other candidates.
Kitchens up to 21 m2 at €110 per m2
Among the tenants, representing a majority of creators who embark on the restoration. “They are testing their concept, their offer and their price positioning to, perhaps one day, open a traditional restaurant,” explains the boss of Popafood. Some brands already have physical restaurants but have decided to offer another brand in dark kitchen mode, such as Jungle Food launched by the Parisian O’Maki.
Tenants commit for a minimum of six months for a monthly rent of €110 excluding tax per m2 with surfaces ranging from 13.5 m2 at 21m2. In total, all the tenants will employ around fifteen employees, in addition to three to four full-time equivalents from Popafood to ensure the withdrawal of take-out meals at the counter where a terminal for ordering will also be installed. With eight restaurants, nearly 400 daily meals will be prepared.