Food trailers operated by SoftBank-backed Reef have ceased operations in NYC after Department of Health found it be operating without permits, as insiders reveal a grow-at-all-costs attitude at the ghost kitchen startup
, and David Chang's Fuku. Reef recently announced massive licensing deals to open delivery-only locations for TGI Fridays and Del Taco.
"There's no long-term permitting strategy," a former operations manager told Insider."They're essentially hiding." "There was a huge bottleneck in terms of trying to get city officials to approve permits for the bigger cities like Chicago, San Francisco," this person said.As such, one former corporate employee was told to take"any shortcut you need" to get vessels, or trailers, open. The pressure to grow increased after Reef announced a $700 million fundraise led by SoftBank in November, former employees told Insider.
Former employees said Reef would often disregard other city regulations, such as requiring mobile food vessels to be moved nightly from their operating spots. One former area director said it would cost about $150 a day to tow vessels.