LOS ANGELES, March 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — C3 (Creating Culinary Communities), a revolutionary food and beverage platform founded by Sam Nazarian, today announces a partnership with Chicago and Miami-based Akara Living founded by Rajen Shastri to integrate ghost kitchens in Kenect, one of Akara Living’s serviced apartment communities. This venture marks the first time a portfolio of residential properties utilizes in-house digital ghost kitchens to offer residents convenient and diversified dining options. C3 kitchens will launch in Summer 2021 at Kenect properties in Nashville and Phoenix and will be included in all future Kenect properties as the brand expands into numerous urban markets across the country over the next several years.
This arm of the C3 business model allows C3 to oversee daily operations and service needs for all Kenect onsite dining venues, including Kenect’s lobby cafés and bars and its private pool decks, as well as delivery to Kenect residents and social and coworking club members and the surrounding community. With kitchens led by C3-trained chefs, up to seven distinct C3 restaurant concepts such as Umami Burger, Krispy Rice, Sam’s Crispy Chicken, and Plant Nation will be housed in each location. New street-facing cafés will extend each brand’s reach within the local neighborhood.
“Rajen is a visionary whose foresight about the evolving needs of today’s professionals transformed residential real estate through the Kenect brand,” says Sam Nazarian, CEO and founder of C3. “Together, our solution-driven businesses are paving the way for quality and convenience.”
Conceived in 2013, Akara Living launched Kenect in 2016 in Chicago to connect work, living, fitness, and social programming under one monthly membership. Kenect properties feature high-quality furnished living spaces, modern and spacious common areas and amenities, including state of the art coworking spaces, and thoughtful hospitality-inspired services, as part of its expansive members-only offering. The Kenect portfolio now includes nearly 1,000 beds with another 2,500 beds in the development pipeline. Upcoming properties throughout the United States include Kenect Denver, Kenect Miami, Kenect Cleveland, and Kenect Minneapolis, with additional locations to open in urban markets nationwide.
“C3 kitchens offer a significant value-add for residents at Kenect,” says Rajen Shastri, founder and CEO of Akara Partners. “This partnership allows us to tap into C3′s network of in-demand brands like Krispy Rice and Umami Burger, elevating our amenity-rich buildings and hospitality services by providing a seamless dining experience for our residents as well as our social and coworking club members.”
Earlier this year, C3 announced the launch of Graduate Food Hall with Graduate Hotels, the first partnership of its kind with a hotel brand, as well as its first fulfillment partnership with The Ice Cream Shop by Unilever. C3 closed out 2020 with over 200 digital kitchens, 15 restaurant brands, 1,200 employees and 1.1 million meals served. The C3 portfolio currently comprises Umami Burger, Krispy Rice, Sam’s Crispy Chicken, EllaMia, In a Bun, The Other Side, Dani Garcia’s POLLO VERDE, Morimoto Sa‘moto, and Dario’s Cicci De Carne with many other brands in the pipeline.
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About C3
C3 (Creating Culinary Communities) is re-imagining the food service industry at a time when change is needed most. Founded and led by visionary Sam Nazarian with minority investors Simon, a global leader in the ownership of premier shopping, dining, entertainment and mixed-use destinations, and Accor, the world-leading augmented hospitality group, C3 is simultaneously, systematically and broadly bringing together technology, underutilized retail, hotel and kitchen spaces and world-class culinary talent. C3‘s array of culinary brands co-exist to disrupt the food & beverage industry by capitalizing on rapidly evolving customer preferences through C3 established shared kitchens, mobile delivery with the next-gen Citizens Go app (set to launch in 2021), and Citizens food halls. Current C3 brands include Umami Burger, Krispy Rice, Sam’s Crispy Chicken, EllaMia, In a Bun, The Other Side and Dani Garcia’s Minük, with many other brands in the pipeline. The first Citizens food hall will open in New York City at Manhattan West in 2021. As of February 2021, C3 operates 250 digital kitchens across the U.S. To learn more, visit c3sbe.com.
About Kenect
Kenect is more than just a residential building. Kenect is more than a coworking space. Kenect is an experience. Kenect is a social club with residences above that offers urbanites an unmatched lifestyle at a great value. Strategically located in transit-oriented, urban neighborhoods, Kenect provides comfort and convenience to its residents, along with the highest quality living spaces, modern common areas, and cutting-edge technology. Kenect features a spectrum of unique services and experiences catering to the lifestyles of busy, social professionals, entrepreneurs, and more broadly, global citizens who want to take control of their lives, bringing the future of residential living to each market. Kenect is distinguished from other multifamily sites with its offering of carefully designed, state-of-the-art furniture with interactive controls that act as the catalyst for our residents to live spaciously in an efficient apartment. All that in addition to 24-hour amenities, concierge services, studio fitness classes, social programming and events, onsite retail, and lots of places to work, network, entertain, or just chill. At Kenect, it’s all within reach.
About Akara Living
Akara Living is a serviced apartment operator and franchisor of hospitality service driven residential brands. Akara Living strives to be a best-in-class serviced apartment operator specializing in the curation of unmatched services and experiences catering specifically to the lifestyles of its residents in a more meaningful, convenient, and cost-effective way than traditional multifamily. Akara Living was founded to capitalize on the growing convergence of hospitality and multifamily real estate, delivering a high touch, highly curated, experiential living product focused on enhancing the lifestyles of the residents it serves. Akara is engaged in utilizing and creating new disruptive technology to fulfill the “on-demand” dynamic lifestyles of today’s residents.
SOURCE C3
