Jungle Creations, the media company behind Facebook ‘food porn’ channel Twisted, is planning to rapidly scale up its delivery only kitchen concept, MCA has learnt.
Jungle founder Jamie Bolding told MCA said after launching the first Twisted Delivery site next week in Aldgate East, the company will look to secure investment for phase two – which will involve opening 10-15 delivery only kitchens in London and Manchester.
Phase three, which is major international expansion, will require a further injection of cash running into the “tens or hundreds of millions”, Bolding said.
Jungle Creations is said to be one of the world’s biggest companies on social media, with a number of channels hosting viral video content, which have amassed hundreds of millions of likes and views.
Twisted is a point of view recipe channel, which often involve indulgent twists or mash-ups on popular dishes, such as sushi burgers and Bolognese wellington.
Bolding, who discussed his plans at London Food Tech Week yesterday, said the offering for delivery would be more balanced and less dirty than the Facebook channel is known for.
He said: “We try not to focus too much on the indulgent and dirty, because we want it to be healthy.
“We try and put a twist on classics and add something quirky. That’s our way of being unique and original.
“The gluttonous stuff does very well on social media, but we’re very much aware that if you’re running a restaurant, and you want people to be ordering from you regularly, you don’t them to be worried they’re going to get heart disease.
“We designed our menu so it is healthy, and you can eat it every day, without putting on too much weight, with vegetarian, vegan, and gluten free options
“People might be taken aback at the start that we don’t have all the crazy stuff, but I think they would have quickly realised it would be an unsustainable business model to open a restaurant doing only novel, stupid food.”
The first site at the company HQ in Aldgate East will have a two mile catchment with a promise of delivery within 30 minutes.
Using Aldgate as a hub and prep kitchen, Twisted will open a number of smaller satellite kitchens to service other areas of London.
Bolding said: “We want to prove the concept straight away. We will give ourselves three or four months, collect the data, modify workings and processes
“By March we will find out what’s popular and what’s not, and then we can really accelerate - the plan is to get mass scale as quickly as possible.
“The aim is to cover every single area. London, Manchester, New York, LA - international expansion as soon possible.”
Twisted will work with Deliveroo and UberEats, though may consider attempting its own delivery at some point further down the line.
Twisted Delivery is being headed up by general manager Engelbert Gamsriegler, with Tom Ewer as head chef.
The menu will include a range of burgers, including ‘The Money Shot’, a cheese burger with applewood cheese and veggie burger ‘Brockley Park’, Twisted Pots include a Korean beef with rice, kimchi mayo and slaw, while desserts include a Salted Caramel Cookie Dough Brownie.
