Salted

Salted operates as a holding company for digital-first restaurant brands, focusing on the delivery and take-out market. Founded in 2014 by Jeff Appelbaum, a serial entrepreneur with a background in e-commerce and customer acquisition, the company is headquartered in Santa Monica, California. Appelbaum's prior ventures include co-founding the marketing agency Buzzpoint and founding DealQuad, a group commerce site for college students. Initially, Salted explored business models such as online cooking classes and meal kits before pivoting to its current iteration of building a portfolio of quick-service restaurant brands.

The company's business model centers on creating and scaling health-conscious, quick-service restaurant concepts that operate primarily out of ghost kitchens, thus avoiding the overhead associated with traditional brick-and-mortar restaurants. This strategy allows for rapid expansion and adaptation to consumer trends. Revenue is generated through food sales via major delivery platforms like DoorDash and GrubHub. Salted operates a portfolio of distinct brands, including moonbowls (Korean Cuisine), Cauliflower Pizza, Ginger Bowl (Chinese-inspired), The $5 Salad Company, lulubowls (Hawaiian-inspired), and Thrive Kitchen (low-carb/keto). The company has also expanded into physical locations with the opening of a moonbowls storefront in Los Angeles.

Salted has secured significant venture capital to fuel its growth, with total funding reaching over $42 million from investors such as Valor Equity Partners, Craft Ventures, and Creadev. The company appeared on an episode of 'Shark Tank' in 2020, seeking $500,000 for a 5% stake, but did not secure a deal. Despite this, Salted has continued to expand, operating in numerous cities across several states, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and Austin. The company leverages its proprietary software, saltedOS, to manage its tech-enabled kitchens. Annual revenue per store is reported to be between $1 million and $2.5 million. Keywords: ghost kitchen, virtual restaurant, digital restaurant brands, food delivery, quick-service restaurant, food tech, restaurant holding company, Jeff Appelbaum, delivery-only, cloud kitchen, multi-brand restaurant, moonbowls, Cauliflower Pizza, online food ordering, restaurant scaling platform, food and beverage, venture capital, Los Angeles startups, QSR, saltedOS