Felix Chrobog, Marc Hansell, and Gerry Pidgeon, previously co-founder and part of the management team at Gorillas, a German grocery delivery startup acquired by Getir in 2022, have secured €1.5 million in funding for their new venture, TastyUrban. TastyUrban is a virtual restaurant franchise that will develop and license food brands to existing restaurants.
The round for TastyUrban was led by German VC Earlybird Venture Capital and a number of strategic angels including Alexander Artope, CEO & Founder of Smava, and Ronny Shibley, CTO & Co-Founder of Gorillas.
Founded in July 2022, TastyUrban partners with international chefs to develop delivery-first food concepts, while host restaurants gain new revenue channels through TastyUrban’s scalable licensing model. The company partners with underutilised restaurants to develop and license out innovative food brands, tapping into the over-supply of restaurants in many cities. There first brand, Birdie Birdie, is already accessible through eight restaurant partners in Berlin, with plans for expansion across Germany and internationally.
The new funding will be used to roll out additional brands and cities across Germany, with international expansion planned for later this year.
“We are confident about solving a real issue for restauranteurs by optimising their kitchen performance and processes, and injecting innovative new food trends and concepts into underserved neighborhoods with the goal of becoming the largest virtual multi-brand restaurant franchise in Europe,” says Felix Chrobog.
Philipp Semmer from Earlybird-X, Earlybird’s Western Europe & university spinoffs pre-seed dedicated fund, says: “I have known Felix for many years and have always been impressed by his performance in the food delivery industry. I am convinced he is the right founder and CEO to take the virtual brands concept within this industry to the next level.”
With many restaurants experiencing low capacity and declining sales, TastyUrban enables them to fully utilise their kitchen space and generate significant monthly revenue without incurring additional costs. Its integrated network of large-scale producers and suppliers allows it to launch new restaurant partners within 1-2 weeks across Germany and other European markets, while its tech stack streamlines restaurant operations and digitizes an outdated industry.
