Tech-Infused Culinary Innovation Mohammad Ballout's Smart Kitchen OS at Kitopi

1. Tech-Infused Culinary Innovation: Mohammad Ballout's Smart Kitchen OS at Kitopi What are multi-brand restaurants? What is the purpose for transitioning to a multi-brand business? These two questions would let us understand the basics of how the fusion of food and tech together, can open a whole new world of possibilities and innovative ideas and creations that would benefit the business as well as the customers in the long-term. Let’s start first with what are multi-brand restaurants. Multi-brand restaurants are those businesses that have several multiple and different brands working under them, here - a main kitchen enterprise. One main restaurant company owns and hosts several and different brands under them or inside their facilities, to cater to the needs and requirements of multiple brands’ all at the same time. Secondly, the need for a business to transition to a multi-brand business benefits both the main enterprise as well as those several multiple and different brands that would be hosted by the main restaurant. This in turn benefits the customers purchasing the food as well as in turn gives-back in value and recognition. It is also a very cost-effective strategy which saves a lot of expenditures to be made on a space, utensils, resources and ingredients. Cloud-Kitchens are businesses and enterprises that heads and leads a food service where the food is prepared for delivery and manages take-out orders for customers who order from multiple brands that are different from one another. In this article, we will be talking about one such cloud kitchen concept that was adopted by a company in the United Arab Emirates, to establish a multi-brand business with the use of a Smart Kitchen OS application for other food brands, and how this benefited the businesses involved as well as kept customers happy and satisfied during and post COVID-19 Pandemic period. Kitopi with Mohamad Ballout: Kitopi is a culinary invention which was founded in the year 2018. The business is a multi- brand company and where they also incorporate and integrate a tech-infused kitchen application and concept known as - Smart Kitchen Operating service (SKOP). Kitopi was co- founded by Mohamad Ballout who has powered the on-demand food economy by adopting this strategy of digital culinary solutions in the food service industry. Mohamad Ballout - CEO and co-founder of Kitopi, was inspired to start and invest in this idea when he saw how the Food and Beverage Industry faced a lot of challenges and loss in sales, operations, and management during the COVID-19 Pandemic and how much they continued to sacrifice and lose to get back on their feet post the pandemic period. As of today, Kitopi has established Dine-In Service in locations around Dubai, United Arab Emirates alongside their online multi-brand cloud kitchen business. “Our Purpose is to satisfy the world’s appetite to create joy.” - Kitopi.

2. The incorporation and integration with technology such as the in-house Smart Kitchen Operating System (SKOS), helped Kitopi in the overall real-time operations and management in terms of efficiency, competitiveness, effectiveness and growth. This benefits the multi- brands partnered up with Kitopi in bringing in a good profit over time as well as being able to provide the customers with a customer-centric experience where the delivery and food quality if of utmost satisfaction. “To satisfy the world’s appetite by partnering with the Food and Beverage brands to help them scale beyond borders.” - Kitopi’s Mission Statement. To help in the technological operations of the in-house Smart Kitchen Operating System application, there are present a workforce and team who are all highly qualified and professionals in their field. These personnel are categorized by Engineers, Techies and Scientists who continuously work to improve and develop new ideas and strategies to keep their services and features up with the current culinary trends. The team working behind the development and operations of Kitopi’s SKOS technology are established and located at their headquarters in Krakow, Poland. The team comprises of various personnel such as - Quality Assurance Engineers, Data Mining Engineers, DevOps Engineers, Data Engineer Architect, Solution Architects, Engineering Lead, Java Backend and Frontend Developers, Platform Developers, Lead Data Analyst, Product Managers, Information and Technology Administrators, and Security Administrators. While most of this technology is being developed in another international country, the foundations are located in Dubai but the operations are in various other locations such as - The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Poland, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and in Bahrain. The values and principles that are followed and adopted religiously by Kitopi are - Caring for One Another, Delivering Satisfied and Quality Results in Fun and Innovative Strategies, Fast and Determined Learners and taking Failure as a Positive, and Risk-Takers who are Power-Driven in Breaking ‘Norms and Nuances’. To Conclude: Kitopi - founded in the year 2018 by Mohamad Ballout has managed to become a successful multi-brand business that has incorporated the use of Smart Kitchen Operating System (SKOS) technology application and has revolutionized the tech industry by operating in over 7 countries, having 200+ kitchens in 12 cities. Kitopi has a loyal customer base of over 5000+ ‘Kitopians’ as they are dearly known as and have a diverse workforce of around 60+ nationalities. The business has collaborated and partnered with over 200+ brands such as - WokKong, Biryani Pot, Rock House Sliders, Chin Chin, Pizzaro, Taqado Mexican Kitchen, Shobak, Circle Cafe, 800Pizza, Johnny Rockets, and Right Bite. Kitopi has also been famously supported and cheered on by featuring in Forbes, CNN, BBC, Bloomberg, and in CNBC.