• A local initiative, Paket Mutfak offers a solution focused solely on takeaway service to brands that want to get a share of the ever-growing takeaway industry in Turkey.
• This concept, known abroad as “ghost kitchen” and “virtual kitchen”, is being introduced to Türkiye under the name “package kitchen”.
• Founded by entrepreneur cousins ​​Tali Şalhon and Eytan Nahmiyas, Paket Mutfak has reached agreements with brands such as Akali, Chopt, Döner Plus, Untwoin and 400 Derece for its kitchens in its Ataşehir branch in the first month of its operation.
• Paket Mutfak aims to reach 50 restaurants in 5 different regions of Istanbul by the end of 2021.

12.08.2020, İstanbul

The initiative Paket Mutfak, which allows restaurant owners to open a new takeaway branch without spending any capital, has made a rapid entry into the food sector.

What is Paket Mutfak?

Paket Mutfak, (www.paketmutfak.com.tr) allows restaurant owners to open a new takeaway service branch without spending any capital.

Paket Mutfak provides kitchens for customers who want to open a new takeaway service branch. In addition, it also undertakes operational burdens such as courier operations, order management, collection, security and maintenance.

Paket Mutfak, transforms empty spaces and warehouses located in highly populated areas of Istanbul into package kitchens that only provide takeaway services.

In this concept, where 10-15 kitchens share a single building, each of the kitchens in the building represents a different restaurant. Since these restaurants focus only on takeaway service, there are no tables for customers to sit at. Restaurants receive their orders via online ordering platforms such as Yemeksepeti, GetirYemek, Zomato or by phone.

The story of entrepreneur cousins

In fact, the Package Kitchen is not the first project to emerge from the partnership of Tali Şalhon and Eytan Nahmiyas. The two cousins, who met frequently while Tali Şalhon was studying at Georgetown University and Eytan Nahmiyas was studying at George Washington University, had undertaken remarkable projects together.

Eytan Nahmiyas and Tali Şalhon developed the location-based messaging application Radius while they were still students. After graduating, they became part of the founding team that developed Geld, Turkey’s first phone-to-phone money transfer software, and licensed it to Ak Öde (Tosla).

After this experience, Tali Şalhon took over the management of Hanse Impex in Kenya. Şalhon achieved her mission in the company by turning the company into a profitable company with stable growth thanks to the pivot strategy she implemented during her time at the management.

Eytan Nahmiyas started working as a product manager at an API company called Even Financial in New York. Joining the company in its early days, Nahmiyas played a key role in the success story of Even Financial, which reached a valuation of $180 million and 150 employees.

Having proven themselves in different fields for 2 years, the two cousins ​​returned to Istanbul to realize the idea of ​​Package Kitchen together in Turkey.

Paket Mutfak closed its latest investment round with a post-investment valuation of $4 million

Having received a total investment of 825 thousand dollars since 2019, Paket Mutfak closed its last investment round with a post-investment valuation of 4 million dollars.

An advantageous model for the pandemic effect

In the early days of the pandemic, we saw slowdowns in the food and beverage sector, like many other sectors. Although we do not see the old speed in restaurant walk-in customers, we see that the takeaway sector is returning to its old days much faster.

According to the information we received from the restaurants we spoke with; restaurants that were already generating 30-40% of their revenue through takeaway service before the pandemic period, share with us that this rate is currently around 60-70%.

This change in consumer behavior brings certain challenges for traditional restaurants. In the opening process of a traditional restaurant, everything is designed to provide the best service to walk-in customers. However, when a large portion of the demand shifts from walk-in customers to take-out service, restaurants may have difficulty adapting to this change. In this period, the Takeaway Kitchen model stands out as an advantageous model for restaurant owners, as it offers an alternative that focuses only on takeout service.

Responding to increasing hygiene expectations

In this model that focuses only on takeaway service;

• lack of foot customer
• lack of cash flow within the kitchen
• restaurants need fewer employees
• No need for reusable materials such as forks and knives
• contactless delivery options

factors such as these make this model safer for the pandemic period.

In addition, every courier and employee entering the Package Kitchen building passes through a disinfection station. Kitchen employees place the ready packages on the food shelves in the corridor, thus ensuring the most appropriate social distance between couriers and restaurant employees.

Co-founder Tali Şalhon: “The takeaway industry is full of opportunities. However, opening a new branch is still a serious risk. You will open a new branch by taking into account the establishment capital of millions of liras. You will also have routine costs such as courier operations, security, and maintenance in this branch. However, you only want to cook your food and deliver it to your customers. Package Kitchen allows this. With this new concept, we are gathering restaurants that are optimized for takeaway service under our roof.”

Co-founder Eytan Nahmiyas: “We take many of the financial and operational burdens that our customers face in other branches off their shoulders. In this way, our customers can focus on what they are best at, cooking. The most visible contribution of this is increased customer satisfaction. We aim for the restaurant’s branch in the Package Kitchen to be the fastest to make a profit among all of its branches. We are looking for companions who want to grow rapidly in the package service sector and who want to spread throughout Turkey with us.”

Döner Plus partner İlker Kalma: “We do not need the couriers, waiters, cashiers, dishwashers, accountants and restaurant managers that we employ in our other branches at our Paket Mutfak branch.”

The first customers of Paket Mutfak, Döner Plus and Untwoin, started their operations at the beginning of June. Both clients produce two brands from their kitchens.

Döner Plus and Lahmacun Plus restaurants, which operate from a single kitchen, only provide takeaway service. Döner Plus and Lahmacun Plus partner İlker Kalma: “Only 3 cooks work at our Package Kitchen branch. Our cooks now only look at the bills that come to the kitchen and cook their meals, and Package Kitchen handles everything else. We do not need the couriers, waiters, cashiers, dishwashers, accountants and restaurant managers that we employ at our other branches at our Package Kitchen branch.”

Target: 50 restaurants with 5 locations throughout Istanbul by the end of 2021

We aim to open at least 50 restaurants with 5 locations throughout Istanbul by the end of 2021. In the long term, we have growth goals by expanding throughout Turkey and abroad.

Having started its Ataşehir branch operations with Döner Plus and Akali brands, the kitchens of brands such as Chopt and 400 Degree Pizza will also start their operations in a short time at the Paket Mutfak.

Paket Mutfak aims to start its operations on the European Side in 2020 and to open branches in Maslak, Kadıköy, Bostancı and Etiler by the end of 2021.

From now on, the food you order for your home may come from a takeaway kitchen!