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Anyone work at Cloud Kitchens? How are things there? They've already raised $700M so it must be a big opportunity.

by sjg007 7y ago

ben_jones 7y ago
By physically locating themselves in the upper atmosphere cloud kitchens are saving tons of money on refrigeration costs. Combined with advancements to automated drone deliveries which are JUST around the corner the enterprise could be profitable as soon as Q3 2021.
- redsymbol 7y ago
  Oh come on, downvoters! This is hilarious. Don't be such a Grinch.
  - shadowprofile77 7y ago
    aaand it got flagged. the pedantic hypochondriac crowd tendency at hacker news really is full of humorless shit sometimes.
    - debaserab2 7y ago
      Fine by me. This isn’t reddit. Signal to noise ratio actually matters here.
      - enraged_camel 7y ago
        Does it? Because lots of shitty cliche jokes regularly get upvoted and built upon even further, whereas others that are actually good get flag-killed within a short timespan. I’ve been looking for an explanation for this wild discrepancy but I’ve come to believe it’s just luck, and depends on people’s collective moods that day. Would make for an interesting deep-dive to be sure.
      - threatofrain 7y ago
        It’s not clear whether HN has ever approached the same level of signal as subreddits. If you visit reddit front page then surely you’re looking for comedy and chatter, but if you consider the tech subreddits I don’t think Reddit was ever outperformed, such as for the Rust subreddit. In a way HN is all front page, even if its front page is higher signal than Reddit.
        krapp 7y ago
        You're right, but if Hacker News questioned its deeply held cultural belief in its own intellectual and technical superiority over Reddit, it would have an existential crisis.
    - 4ntonius8lock 7y ago
      I didn't read it. But for some of us, silly inane comments that don't add to the conversation can detract from it. If that's what you are looking for, may I suggest reddit? On there, an article is posted and you'll have 10,000s of silly one liners with no information or further understanding. Most never having even read the FA. I personally love the fact that /. doesn't allow this. It means those of us who want to discuss topics can actually do so without drowning in a sea of silliness.
      - clairity 7y ago
        good satire does contribute to the conversation and shouldn't be buried imho. but yes, silly jokes and memes can clutter the discussion. /. admits humor via the "funny" moderation, which then allows you to show or hide funny comments via filtering.
        4ntonius8lock 7y ago
        Good satire is entertaining. It does not help build bridges of communication between people who think differently. That's why I think it's looked down upon here. You are right on the /. point. :)
        clairity 7y ago
        most comments argue a position, which doesn't necessarily build bridges either. good satire, even if taking a position, should be thought-provoking rather than simply insulting.
        4ntonius8lock 7y ago
        Satire definition: "the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues." From Wikipedia: "satire is a genre of literature and performing arts, in which vices, follies, abuses and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, corporations, government, or society itself into improvement." Not only is satire bad for communication, it's bad for learning, since it must presuppose the person creating the satire is not in the wrong. Generally people who are open to learning start from the perspective they too might be wrong. Of course, you are welcome to show me examples of when satire changed your mind... that would make me reconsider a different perspective.
PopeDotNinja 7y ago
I suspect that they've raised $700M because Travis Kalanick is involved. Uber made a lot of people rich, and some of those people would certainly be interested in investing w/ Travis again.
- sjg007 7y ago
  I mean it does seem like a good opportunity. Renting a kitchen or even cooking out of your own kitchen seems like a way to bootstrap to success. I remember hearing/reading an NPR "how I made it" about Stacy's Pita chips and she basically followed this path. Here Travis seems have learned from WeWork to own the real estate and rent out the kitchen as well. It seems like a win-win.
  - excerionsforte 7y ago
    Looks like an excellent opportunity. Real estate is not getting cheaper. I believe they are based in LA, so when I'm ready to move out there guaranteed I'll be applying there. :)
    - maest 7y ago
      I'm sure there are less risky ways to make real estate plays.
- xenocyon 7y ago
  It's interesting that he has apparently faced no consequences within the Silicon Valley community for creating a toxic corporate culture rife with sexual harassment and threatening behavior. (Just one example of many: https://time.com/5023287/uber-threatened-journalist-sarah-lacy/ https://time.com/5023287/uber-threatened-journalist-sarah-la...)
  - meddlepal 7y ago
    It is Silicon Valley... money talks, bullshit walks. See: Wall Street in 80's.
JMTQp8lwXL 7y ago
Not a Cloud Kitchens employee, but I interviewed with them. They have bright talent, but the offers aren't all that good, especially for the level of experience they were looking for: they want the cream of the crop of this industry, and they do not want to pay top numbers. The valuation has the "implicit" success baked into the price already-- and I don't think you could say Uber is a guaranteed success story yet. With CK, you take the risk of being an early employee with very little, if any, upside. This came up in other threads recently, but it's likely better odds to stick with Big N companies. One angle people might be missing is how much CK is a real estate play. There's real technical problems to tackle, but it requires spinning up these dark kitchens in dense, pricy real estate markets. Conceptually, it's the WeWork of restaurant kitchens, though I'm hesitant to draw that comparison due to the many other connotations of WeWork that I wouldn't associate with CK.
- rubicon33 7y ago
  > but the offers aren't all that good But, but, but... how can that be?! There's such a massive shortage of software developers! Surely you're mistaken, right?
- hintymad 7y ago
  Typical Travis, cheap as hell. He publicly said that people would join Uber for purely monetary gains, so he wouldn't want to pay them much. Back in 2016, he instructed his managers to A/B test packages to see how low a package candidates can accept. Indeed, "forced" is more accurate than "instructed". I guess nothing is wrong with Travis' MO. It's a free market anyway. It's just that I wouldn't bet my future career on him.

Anyone work at Cloud Kitchens? How are things there? They've already raised $700M so it must be a big opportunity.

by sjg007 7y ago

Anyone work at Cloud Kitchens? How are things there? They've already raised $700M so it must be a big opportunity.

By physically locating themselves in the upper atmosphere cloud kitchens are saving tons of money on refrigeration costs. Combined with advancements to automated drone deliveries which are JUST around the corner the enterprise could be profitable as soon as Q3 2021.

redsymbol 7y ago
Oh come on, downvoters! This is hilarious. Don't be such a Grinch.
- shadowprofile77 7y ago
  aaand it got flagged. the pedantic hypochondriac crowd tendency at hacker news really is full of humorless shit sometimes.
  - debaserab2 7y ago
    Fine by me. This isn’t reddit. Signal to noise ratio actually matters here.
    - enraged_camel 7y ago
      Does it? Because lots of shitty cliche jokes regularly get upvoted and built upon even further, whereas others that are actually good get flag-killed within a short timespan. I’ve been looking for an explanation for this wild discrepancy but I’ve come to believe it’s just luck, and depends on people’s collective moods that day. Would make for an interesting deep-dive to be sure.
    - threatofrain 7y ago
      It’s not clear whether HN has ever approached the same level of signal as subreddits. If you visit reddit front page then surely you’re looking for comedy and chatter, but if you consider the tech subreddits I don’t think Reddit was ever outperformed, such as for the Rust subreddit. In a way HN is all front page, even if its front page is higher signal than Reddit.
      - krapp 7y ago
        You're right, but if Hacker News questioned its deeply held cultural belief in its own intellectual and technical superiority over Reddit, it would have an existential crisis.
  - 4ntonius8lock 7y ago
    I didn't read it. But for some of us, silly inane comments that don't add to the conversation can detract from it. If that's what you are looking for, may I suggest reddit? On there, an article is posted and you'll have 10,000s of silly one liners with no information or further understanding. Most never having even read the FA. I personally love the fact that /. doesn't allow this. It means those of us who want to discuss topics can actually do so without drowning in a sea of silliness.
    - clairity 7y ago
      good satire does contribute to the conversation and shouldn't be buried imho. but yes, silly jokes and memes can clutter the discussion. /. admits humor via the "funny" moderation, which then allows you to show or hide funny comments via filtering.
      - 4ntonius8lock 7y ago
        Good satire is entertaining. It does not help build bridges of communication between people who think differently. That's why I think it's looked down upon here. You are right on the /. point. :)
        clairity 7y ago
        most comments argue a position, which doesn't necessarily build bridges either. good satire, even if taking a position, should be thought-provoking rather than simply insulting.
        4ntonius8lock 7y ago
        Satire definition: "the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues." From Wikipedia: "satire is a genre of literature and performing arts, in which vices, follies, abuses and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, corporations, government, or society itself into improvement." Not only is satire bad for communication, it's bad for learning, since it must presuppose the person creating the satire is not in the wrong. Generally people who are open to learning start from the perspective they too might be wrong. Of course, you are welcome to show me examples of when satire changed your mind... that would make me reconsider a different perspective.

PopeDotNinja 7y ago

I suspect that they've raised $700M because Travis Kalanick is involved. Uber made a lot of people rich, and some of those people would certainly be interested in investing w/ Travis again.

sjg007 7y ago
I mean it does seem like a good opportunity. Renting a kitchen or even cooking out of your own kitchen seems like a way to bootstrap to success. I remember hearing/reading an NPR "how I made it" about Stacy's Pita chips and she basically followed this path. Here Travis seems have learned from WeWork to own the real estate and rent out the kitchen as well. It seems like a win-win.
- excerionsforte 7y ago
  Looks like an excellent opportunity. Real estate is not getting cheaper. I believe they are based in LA, so when I'm ready to move out there guaranteed I'll be applying there. :)
  - maest 7y ago
    I'm sure there are less risky ways to make real estate plays.
xenocyon 7y ago
It's interesting that he has apparently faced no consequences within the Silicon Valley community for creating a toxic corporate culture rife with sexual harassment and threatening behavior. (Just one example of many: https://time.com/5023287/uber-threatened-journalist-sarah-lacy/ https://time.com/5023287/uber-threatened-journalist-sarah-la...)
- meddlepal 7y ago
  It is Silicon Valley... money talks, bullshit walks. See: Wall Street in 80's.

JMTQp8lwXL 7y ago

Not a Cloud Kitchens employee, but I interviewed with them. They have bright talent, but the offers aren't all that good, especially for the level of experience they were looking for: they want the cream of the crop of this industry, and they do not want to pay top numbers. The valuation has the "implicit" success baked into the price already-- and I don't think you could say Uber is a guaranteed success story yet. With CK, you take the risk of being an early employee with very little, if any, upside. This came up in other threads recently, but it's likely better odds to stick with Big N companies. One angle people might be missing is how much CK is a real estate play. There's real technical problems to tackle, but it requires spinning up these dark kitchens in dense, pricy real estate markets. Conceptually, it's the WeWork of restaurant kitchens, though I'm hesitant to draw that comparison due to the many other connotations of WeWork that I wouldn't associate with CK.

rubicon33 7y ago
> but the offers aren't all that good But, but, but... how can that be?! There's such a massive shortage of software developers! Surely you're mistaken, right?
hintymad 7y ago
Typical Travis, cheap as hell. He publicly said that people would join Uber for purely monetary gains, so he wouldn't want to pay them much. Back in 2016, he instructed his managers to A/B test packages to see how low a package candidates can accept. Indeed, "forced" is more accurate than "instructed". I guess nothing is wrong with Travis' MO. It's a free market anyway. It's just that I wouldn't bet my future career on him.