With a goal to assist restaurants in growing their business beyond traditional brick-and-mortar models, DoorDash has opened what it calls a “reimagined food hall” in San Jose, California—bringing 10 local, regional and national restaurants under one roof.
Called “DoorDash Kitchens” the debut follows a successful pop-up model in the South Bay nearly two years ago, as well as previous openings of delivery-forward kitchens in Redwood City and North Hollywood, California and a Brooklyn location, inside Nimbus—a New York City-based shared kitchen.
Located inside the San Jose Plant Shopping Center, customers can order online for delivery via the DoorDash app or walk in to order in-person or through kiosks and QR codes. The restaurants share one large kitchen with different sections and equipment that best serve each brand.
While the food hall is “off-premises focused” it’s also home to a dine-in area for customers to enjoy meals on-site.
DoorDash Kitchens San Jose, California, facility features a dine-in component for customers to enjoy meals on-site.
The food hall will feature the restaurants:
- Aria Korean Street Food
- Ivan’s Chicken Shokudo
- Koi Palace
- Little Spoon
- Milk Bar
- Nékter Juice Bar
- Plentiful
- Sweet Street
- The Melt
- Academic Coffee
“Koi Palace has offered fresh, high-quality Chinese dining to the Bay Area for nearly three decades since 1996, said Willy Ng, Founder of Koi Palace. “We’re excited to be able to serve the residents in San Jose for the first time, which has now been made possible through our partners at DoorDash Kitchens.”
Full-service model
After opening its first commissary kitchen in 2019, DoorDash says they’ve learned that restaurants need more than just help with upfront real estate costs, and are looking “for less expensive and operationally incentive options to open a new location.”
With that in mind, DoorDash launched its “full-service model” where restaurants outsource day-to-day operations to the third-party delivery giant, from providing cooks, front-of-house staff, training, meal prep, procuring equipment and sourcing ingredients.
Under this model, restaurant operators get a portion of the revenue the food hall generates, and do not pay rent or commissions.
Food On Demand previously covered DoorDash’s full-service model, including an operator’s look inside two of its kitchen facilities in California.
“It’s a really flexible, cost-efficient way for a restaurant to expand their footprint, where we actually work with them on understanding how to prepare their recipes, what kinds of ingredients they are sourcing and what kinds of equipment they use,” said Ashlee Tran, head of new restaurant models at DoorDash.
The full-service model is currently operating in the San Jose and Brooklyn facility and for select brands in the Redwood City location.
“In the last few months, we have seen 21 businesses open their doors for the very first time in our downtown,” said San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan. “I’m excited to see DoorDash Kitchens join them to provide even more food options for our residents. As we continue to get San Jose back to the basics, I am confident this momentum will grow and we will see more businesses and residents establish roots in our city center.”
DoorDash Kitchens San Jose facility is open for pick-up, delivery, and dine-in from 10am-10pm daily.
