Reef Technology Closing Three New York Ghost Kitchens
By Mark Hallum August 6, 2024 4:33 pm
reprints
Reef Technology is giving up the ghost (kitchen) in three New York markets.
The SoftBank (SFTBY)-backed company that grew out of the pandemic providing restaurant services out of trailers on a delivery-only basis is continuing its closure of locations in major cities by laying off 53 workers and shuttering its locations in the Bronx, Manhattan and Long Island, according to disclosures with the New York State Department of Labor.
The closures of 2 Saint Anns Avenue in the Bronx, 30 Enterprise Zone Drive in Riverhead, N.Y., and 77 West 24th Street in Manhattan are slated for Sept. 30, according to the filings. Employees were not represented by a union, and the largest location with 24 employees was the one in the Bronx.
Reef Technology, also known as Reef OS, could not be reached for comment. The news was first reported by Bisnow.
The ghost kitchen business would be the second venture for the company, which was originally founded by Ari Ojalvo and Umut Tekin as ParkJockey in 2013 to offer software to help consumers figure out where to leave their vehicles.
In December 2018, SoftBank invested $1 billion in the company, which then began looking for other ways to invest, finding potential, again, in parking lots.
Ghost kitchens saw massive growth around the country starting around that time and it kicked into high-gear during the pandemic.
In March 2023, as the hype around ghost kitchens seemed to be reaching the end of its road as COVID-19 waned into a more endemic and treatable illness, consumers began returning in larger numbers to brick-and-mortar restaurants. That led to the closure of Reef outposts in cities like Portland, Ore., and Philadelphia.
Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.
