Creating the Roadmap for the Digital Restaurant

The omnichannel experience that first wreaked havoc with the
retail industry quickly began to make its impact on the
restaurant industry even before the pandemic. The disruption
caused by the pandemic accelerated this trend requiring
restaurant owners of national chains and family-run businesses as
well as every restaurant version in between to adapt or die.


Carl Orsbourn and Meredith Sandland worked together at Kitchen
United, a ghost kitchen headquartered in Pasadena, CA in the
early days of the company still in its start-up phase. Osbourn
had formerly worked in the convenience retail world for 15 years
at BP in the convenience store space where he first saw the shift
in consumerism coupled with an increased desire for healthier
food.


Prior to joining Kitchen United, Sandland spent a decade working
within the restaurant industry at Taco Bell where she started in
brand development and then moved on to real estate development.
When the omnichannel disruption created the desire for a
“commissary where she could simply deliver tacos out the door and
not have a restaurant, particularly in high-congested areas such
as Manhattan.”


At Kitchen United, the two worked together to create a business
model that would support Sandland’s dreams. And Orsbourn was
introduced to “this incredible ecosystem of restaurants that are
looking to change and move with the times. Even though they were
looking to work in a ghost kitchen environment, which, of course,
was pre-pandemic at this stage, a lot of them were actually still
struggling to adapt to change.”


Their experiences working with clients and consumers inspired
them to collaborate on writing a book that would help restaurants
succeed in a ghost kitchen world. And, in 2021, they published
Delivering the Digital Restaurant: Your Roadmap to the Future of
Food.