C3, Graduate Hotels partner for digital kitchen concept

C3 (Creating Culinary Communities) and Graduate Hotels have launched Graduate Food Hall. A new delivery-focused, hybrid digital kitchen concept, Graduate Food Hall powered by C3 will debut in Graduate properties in the first quarter of 2021, with plans to roll out to a majority of Graduate locations across the country by end of year.  
  
Through this joint venture with Graduate Hotels, C3 will assume daily operations of all on-premises foodservice across the Graduate properties. This digital food hall concept is meant to inject C3’s restaurant brands and shared kitchen model into the hotel space. Graduate’s hotel kitchens will be converted into multibrand digital kitchens in which up to six of C3’s brands, including concepts like Umami Burger, Krispy Rice and Sam’s Crispy Chicken, can operate at once. Graduate Food Hall will feature dine-in options within Graduate Hotels’ lobbies and gathering areas, as well as delivery and take-out. Diners can choose their preferred items from any of C3’s food hall concepts in one single order, and can eat at Graduate Food Hall, on-the-go or through delivery via any major delivery platform. In the next phase, orders can also be placed via C3’s own soon-to-launch delivery app. Graduate Hotels will continue to operate its own bar outlets.  
  
“The partnership between C3 and Graduate will set the precedent for the future of hotel dining,” said Sam Nazarian, founder of C3. “This setup not only supports and supplements in-room hotel dining and on-site catering, it also streamlines the ordering process and extends the hotel’s reach within the local community … With Graduate Food Hall, we’re making a selection of C3’s most popular restaurant brands available at their fingertips. At the same time, our digital kitchens are driving supplemental revenue streams back to our hotel partners, making this a win-win for the hotels and the communities they serve.”  
 
“We’re thrilled to partner with our friends at C3 and bring this innovative new dining experience to some of our Graduate communities across the country,” says Ben Weprin, Graduate Hotels CEO and founder. “This year has presented both immense challenges and opportunities for our industry, and we have taken these moments to pause, reassess and evolve our offerings in order to best serve guests, students and locals. With Graduate Food Hall, we’re providing some exciting options and epicurean experiences, but also an incredibly streamlined and convenient approach that reflects today’s market.” 
  
Graduate Food Hall is slated to debut in Graduate Berkeley, Calif.; Graduate Richmond, Va.; and Graduate Tempe, Ariz.; with additional locations to come.   
 
C3’s digital kitchen has already launched in Los Angeles and Miami as a restaurant incubator in which consumers can order through quick-service culinary brands. Launched 18 months ago, C3 had 200 digital kitchens and eight brands established by year-end 2020. The C3 portfolio currently includes restaurant brands like Umami Burger, Krispy Rice, Sam’s Crispy Chicken, Plant Nation and EllaMia. These existing models provided a blueprint for C3’s work with Graduate Hotels.