Shows
The Digital RestaurantChat GPT & The End of Marketplaces?Send us a textAre delivery marketplaces like DoorDash and Uber Eats about to be disrupted by ChatGPT?Carl welcomes Atul Sood, former McDonald’s and Kitchen United executive, to explore how AI and automation are reshaping the food world — from ChatGPT’s new app integrations to robotic hospital kitchens.Together they cover:DoorDash’s new Dot delivery robot and smart scale (2m 15)https://foodondemand.com/10012025/doordash-ceo-tony-xu-unveils-delivery-robot-and-smartscale/How ChatGPT’s App SDK could eliminate the need for delivery apps altogether (6m 35)https...
2025-10-1328 min
The Digital RestaurantWhy Agile Marketing is the Essential Restaurant Skill in the Digital AgeSend us a textThis week on The Digital Restaurant, Carl is joined by Jennifer Kern, CMO of Qu, for a fast-moving conversation about the headlines shaping restaurants, technology, and consumer behavior.We kick off with a surprising stat: half of adults are ordering kids meals. (01:00) What does this say about QSR value wars, portion sizes, and how brands like CAVA and Starbucks are reframing value through experience, not just price?Next, we examine Chipotle’s partnership with Zipline (05:00), which involves testing drone delivery in Dallas. Is th...
2025-09-0227 min
The Digital RestaurantBeware, Be Kind of Viral InfluencersSend us a textIn this episode of The Digital Restaurant, Carl is joined by Emmy Award–winning storyteller Mike Duffy of Yum Crunch. Together they break down five timely stories shaping restaurants and tech:McDonald’s bets on web ordering through DoorDash—does convenience outweigh control?Yum Brands’ Byte platform fuels $9B in digital sales and rewrites the restaurant tech stack.Social listening lessons: Cracker Barrel’s backlash vs. KFC’s potato wedge comeback.Drone delivery’s tipping point—new FAA rules, Texas rollouts, pizza robots in LA, and the Ghost Kitchen 3.0 vision.The power and peril of inf...
2025-08-1845 min
The Digital RestaurantWhy does Yum want to own the tech stack - with guest host Cijoy OlickalSend us a textCarl welcomes guest host Cijoy Olickal, a restaurant tech expert, to break down key industry trends.🔹 2025 Restaurant Industry Outlook – $1.5T in sales, shifting consumer habits, tech’s impact on profitability, and labor challenges. Articles One, Two, and Three🔹 Yum! Brands' Tech Strategy – Is building a proprietary tech stack the right move for a global franchise? Articles One and Two🔹 Wonder’s Expansion – Mark Lore’s meal kit & marketplace strategy—how does it compare to DoorDash and Uber Eats? Articles...
2025-02-1733 min
Automotive State of The UnionGM Projections Up, Dealer Values Remain Strong, Wegmans Hot MealsShoot us a Text.Welcome to episode 600 of the Automotive Troublemaker. Today we dive into how GM seems to be fine after the UAW strike, how dealership values are staying strong, and how Wegmans is trying to change the way we shop for groceries.General Motors emerges from a costly six-week UAW strike, projecting strong profits for 2023. Despite increased labor costs, GM's strategic planning and stock buyback indicate a robust financial future.GM suffered a $1.1 billion hit due to the UAW strike but forecasts a $9.1B-$9.7B net income for 2023.The company plans...
2023-11-2914 min
Restaurant InfluencersAtul Sood of Kitchen United on the Power of Assuming Friendship in BusinessAtul Sood, CEO of Kitchen United, places a unique emphasis on the power of friends as a driving force for both his personal and professional successes. For him, friendships have been pivotal in his career path and creating enjoyable workspaces. Listen to this interview to learn about the power of relationships, communicating with authenticity, and sharing your struggles with others. Sponsored by: Toast: All-In-1 Restaurant POS — https://bit.ly/3vpeVsc
2023-10-3158 min
Restaurant InfluencersAtul Sood of Kitchen United on the Power of Assuming Friendship in BusinessAtul Sood, CEO of Kitchen United, places a unique emphasis on the power of friends as a driving force for both his personal and professional successes. For him, friendships have been pivotal in his career path and creating enjoyable workspaces. Listen to this interview to learn about the power of relationships, communicating with authenticity, and sharing your struggles with others. Sponsored by: Toast: All-In-1 Restaurant POS — https://bit.ly/3vpeVsc Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
2023-10-311h 01
A Few Things with Jim Barrood#115 Atul Sood, CEO, Kitchen United, discusses food industry trends, ghost kitchens, Mr. Beast, AIWe discussed a few things including:1. Atul's corporate and entrepreneurial journey2. Kitchen United's story3. Industry challenges and opportunities - ghost/dark kitchens4. Insights/trends relating to retail, food and delivery5. Lessons learned - importance of relationships/friendshipsAtul was previously the Chief Business Officer of Kitchen United. Previously, he was most Director of Global Business Development for McDonald’s Digital, a business unit formed to help spur technological innovation across the restaurant. In this capacity, Atul forged partnerships across the technology ecosystem – ranging from payment platforms to voice...
2023-10-1344 min
Choppin’ It Up by Bloomberg IntelligenceGhost Kitchen Growth and Food Delivery's FutureAtul Sood, Chief Business Officer at Kitchen United, joins Michael Halen, Senior Restaurant and Foodservice Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, to discuss the future of food delivery and ghost kitchens. Kitchen United's omnichannel approach, virtual brands, third-party economics and autonomous delivery are some of the topics covered.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
2023-01-2632 min
The Feed036- Your friendly neighborhood ghost kitchen with Atul Sood of Kitchen UnitedAtul Sood is the Chief Business Officer at Kitchen United, one of the leading ghost kitchen providers in the US with 13 live facilities. The startup has recently partnered with Simon Property Group and Westfield to open next-gen food courts within their malls as well as Kroger to allow shoppers the ability to mix and match from different virtual and physical restaurant brands in a single takeout or delivery order. In this episode we’ll talk about how ghost kitchens can disrupt the marketplace model, the importance of pickup, and how retailers and real estate owners are leveraging Kitchen United’s te...
2022-04-0852 min
Give an Ovation: The Restaurant Guest Experience Podcast with Zack OatesThe Pioneering of the Ghost Kitchen with Atul SoodSend us a textAtul Sood is the chief business officer at Kitchen United. Kitchen United offers restaurants a top-tier food production facility that combines insights with ideas on how to profitably expand into the food delivery business. Given his experience, Atul has proven his skill at business intelligence and offering minimal risk and capital outlay. On this episode, Atul and Host Zack Oates discuss: His pioneering of the ghost kitchenMulti concept diningAutomationThe development of deliveryMoreThanks Atul!
2022-03-2819 min
Hospitality Hangout | Expert Strategies & Industry Trends from Hospitality InsidersThe Multi-Restaurant Ordering Experience | Season 5, Vol. 5: Kitchen UnitedIn the latest episode of Hospitality Hangout podcast, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “ The Finance Guy” chat with Atul Sood, Chief Business Officer at Kitchen United to explore the multi-restaurant ordering experience. Sood shares his background that included leading global food delivery partnerships for McDonalds during a time Doordash and Postmates were just getting off the ground and UberEats didn’t exist. He had the opportunity to set up global partnerships in the United States, Singapore, Canada, Australia and more. When asked what makes Kitchen United unique, Sood says, “we are front and center w...
2021-11-0231 min
Closed MondayNRO#84: Atul Sood| Chief Business Officer, Kitchen UnitedAtul Sood is the Chief Business Officer at Kitchen United. Kitchen United is a GV (formerly Google Ventures) backed startup in the ghost kitchen space, transforming the restaurant industry by enabling brands to be more proximate to their customer base for off-premise dining. Atul leads lead strategic relationships for the company including investor discussions, restaurant brand partnerships, and conversations with partners across the food delivery ecosystem. Kitchen United currently has 6 facilities open in Chicago (x2), Los Angeles (Pasadena), Austin, Scottsdale, and San Jose.
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2021-09-1243 min
Rock My RestaurantBrand Expansion & Growth Strategy | Atul Sood - Kitchen UnitedIn this episode of the twelve-part Accelerate series for the Takeout, Delivery, and Catering podcast series, host Sam Stanovich and guest host Kathleen Wood chat with Atul Sood, the chief business officer of Kitchen United, to explore successfully creating and implementing a growth strategy in the restaurant and hospitality industry.“We focused the business quickly on restaurants… and then we realized we needed to have a facility for onsite ordering,” says Sood. “We’ve gone from there to having six sites, and we’ll be opening another twelve to fourteen sites this year.”Founded in 2017, Kitchen United was des...
2021-08-2446 min
Future of Food - Let's Eat Better for Ourselves and the PlanetSeason Three Supercut - the Future of FoodSeason Three of The Future of Food examined how restaurants can survive during pandemic times. We looked for answers in many ways. Lee Schneider interviewed Sean Lynch, who set up a listing service for restaurants that were doing takeout and deliver. He spoke with Grace Guber about her experiences as a server and with Lex Gopnix-Lewinski about what it was like to own a restaurant in the last year. Creg Fielding, CEO of Fusionware, threw some light on how the supply chain works and how it failed during the pandemic. Brian Wang brought his perspective as a science writer a...
2021-03-0309 min
Future of Food - Let's Eat Better for Ourselves and the PlanetGhost Kitchens with Atul Sood - Chief Business Officer at Kitchen UnitedGhost kitchens have been helping out many a restaurant during the pandemic. These are kitchens — often without a storefront or public face — that make the food you’re taking out from your favorite restaurant. Atul Sood is the Chief Business Officer at Kitchen United, a venture-backed startup that is deploying “ghost kitchens” to help restaurant brands serve their customers without necessarily having a storefront or physical restaurant. He knows his way around food delivery partnerships: He was the Director of Business Development for McDonald’s Global Digital organization.Some ghost kitchens have names you know — they’re the out...
2021-02-0918 min
The Food Institute PodcastWill the Pandemic Have a Lasting Effect on Ghost Kitchens?Ghost kitchens – some in the restaurant industry fear them, while others embrace them. Euromonitor even projects it could be a $1 trillion business by 2030, but what exactly is a ghost kitchen? And how will the pandemic affect the industry’s trajectory in the future? Join the Food Institute’s Chris Campbell as he talks with Kitchen United chief business officer Atul Sood and Combo Kitchen CEO Hossein Kasmai to fully define the ghost kitchen model, explore demographic shifts affecting the bottom line at ghost kitchens, and what the industry may look like in the years to come.
Hosted By: Chris Campbell
Hossei...
2020-11-1526 min
The Big Picture14: The unrest in JNUJNU has witnessed a student agitation for over two months. On January 5, masked miscreants entered the university campus and assaulted both students and teachers. Ever since then, both JNU students and campuses across the country have intensified protests. Many have sought the resignation or dismissal of the vice-chancellor. To discuss the events in JNU, University professor Atul Sood joins this edition of The Big Picture.
2020-01-1316 min
A Deeper DiveHow restaurants should adapt to rising takeout demandThis week’s RB podcast "A Deeper Dive" features Kitchen United’s Atul Sood, discussing how his company takes off-premise sales off premise.
2019-01-3030 min