Specialty Food Magazine

SPRING • C3 Counts on the Future of Virtual Brands Multi-concept foodservice operator C3 (Creating Culinary Communities) is betting big on the future of multi-concept kitchens and virtual brands. The company, backed by shopping mall giant Simon Property Group and multinational hotel operator Accor S.A., is establishing a network of brick-and-mortar locations that will house multiple foodservice brands at each site, including in hotels and in its own food halls. Its first food hall, called Citizens, is slated to open in Manhattan this spring. C3 owns the Umami Burger concept and several other brands, including Krispy Rice, Sam's Crispy Chicken, Plant Nation, LA Gente, In a Bun, and The Other Side. It recently acquired 22 units of Specialty's Café and Bakery, which it is converting to its own breakfast/lunch cafe and catering brand, EllaMia. The locations will also house several other C3 brands as delivery-only concepts produced in EllaMia's kitchens. "Unlocking the value of underutilized real estate and creating opportunity in a hurting foodservice industry is key to the C3 model," says Sam Nazarian, CEO and founder of C3. The company also recently reached an agreement with Graduate Hotels to operate foodservice concepts for the chain, through which it will showcase some of its brands and produce the menus of others available for delivery only to the surrounding areas. Thomas Negrel, who was recently named chief operating officer for the EllaMia concept, says the brand will expand to dozens of locations this year, both in the conversion of the acquired Specialty's locations and as virtual brands located within the kitchens of C3's other brands. As C3 and other foodservice companies expand their off-premise operations, they will need to focus carefully on the customer experience, he says. One way C3 is doing that is through its CitizensGo mobile app, which will allow customers to place orders to multiple C3 brands simultaneously. This would not only provide a convenience to consumers but would also allow C3 to have one-to-one relationships with those customers, as opposed to through a third-party ordering platform/delivery service such as DoorDash, Grubhub, or Uber Eats. "Creating a direct link to the customer is one of the things we are actively pursuing, because that's where the value is," says Negrel. "We want to own that relationship … to ensure that the experience for the customer is what it needs to be." That effort around the customer experience extends to everything about the delivery, including the packaging and the overall brand messaging. "Food has become so commoditized; it's almost like ordering from Amazon, where a package arrives at your door," says Negrel. "We want to create something that is closer to a 'Christmas moment.' We want people to get excited when they get their food. We want to connect with consumers in a way that goes beyond the food and is about the moment." PHOTOS• MASON ADAMS

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