About Virtual X Kitchen
Virtual X Kitchen is a ghost kitchen located in College Park, Maryland. In case you didn’t know, virtual kitchens, or cloud kitchens, are specifically designed for preparing food for pickup and delivery, rather than for in-person dining.
The restaurant brand is operated by Chef Nomie who has worked in the restaurant industry for many years and opened his first restaurant, Krazi Kebob, in 2010. Now with Virtual X Kitchen, Chef Nomie has four “Krazi” brands, Krazi Kebob, Krazi Burrito, Krazi Chick, and The Kabob Joint, as well as a catering company!
Building a virtual restaurant brand using one restaurant engagement platform
The concept for Virtual X Kitchen came to life when Chef Nomie wanted to maximize space in an urban area while offering a variety of food options without overhead costs. The brand wanted to offer an efficient, sustainable and futuristic model of digital dining for the local community that includes college residents.
Chef Nomie’s first concept for a Virtual Kitchen was first born at the original Krazi Kebob location when he opened Krazi Burrito within the same space and later opened The Kabob Joint as a delivery-only concept as well. After having success with this model, he sought out a larger space to fully bring his vision to life and opened Virtual X Kitchen in 2021.
With Incentivio, Virtual X Kitchen is able to offer online and mobile app ordering for all of their virtual concepts for pickup and delivery. The virtual brand introduced outposts in August 2022 with nearby apartment complexes to have food lockers in the lobby for residents who order delivery.
“Having all of our concepts in Virtual X Kitchen with pickup and delivery orders, including apartment orders, in one platform makes it logistically easier for operations and reporting as well as provides a seamless digital experience for our customers,” said Jordan Tisaranni, Marketing Manager at Virtual X Kitchen.
Before using Incentivio, Virtual X Kitchen customers had to order through separate websites for each concept, delivery was available through 3rd party platforms only, and apartment orders were on a separate platform entirely. This led to a somewhat confusing customer experience, but now, the brand has everything streamlined.
“Now we can also send offers, where there are so many possibilities and options by location or concept. I’ve used this platform for a year and still find so many things to do. It’s really great to know that whatever we dream up, we can make it happen through Incentivio,” said Tisaranni.
"Of all of the offers we have put out, the loyalty program has been the most used by far, which really shows the value of having that technological capability. Looking at the past year, we have had over $55,000 in delivery sales alone, and the fact that we actually retain almost all of that revenue as opposed to giving 30+% away to a 3rd party makes a huge difference. We've kept 85% of our delivery revenue by utilizing Incentivio's in-app and web delivery while retaining our customer's data for targeted marketing," said Tisaranni.
Since implementing the outposts, Virtual X Kitchen increased its revenue by 24% in one month and has seen a 20% increase in order volume.
How an ambassador program helps fuel restaurant guest engagement
Virtual X Kitchen will be launching an ambassador program to help increase guest engagement. The general idea for the program is to give weekly credit to ambassadors with their own discount code to share across social media and referrals. When the discount code is used, the ambassador receives a reward as well as the guest who redeemed the code.
This idea helps the virtual brand target the student market effectively and helps increase guest engagement and order volume.
What’s next for Virtual X Kitchen?
Virtual X Kitchen aims to maintain a growth mindset and has plans to open another concept in the very near future while also expanding its existing menus!
