CloudKitchens
I was brought on to help launch CloudKitchens from the ground up — building a scalable branding and signage system capable of rapid deployment across the U.S. and internationally. Over three years, I co-led the creation of a unified design framework that streamlined everything from facility branding to multi-language signage and wayfinding, enabling the company to roll out ghost kitchens in diverse markets, cultures, and architectural contexts.
Challenge
Create a scalable, multi-language brand and signage system that could adapt to varied facility types, cultures, and regulations, enabling rapid rollout in the U.S. and abroad.Outcome
A unified framework deployed across hundreds of kitchens in over 30 countries (> 8,000 U.S. locations), enabling rapid rollout across markets while ensuring brand consistency in diverse cultural and regulatory contexts.
1. Context & Challenge
The Cloud Kitchens model began as a systems challenge: how to operationalize a rapidly expanding brand across cities, cultures, and facility types. The work required building consistency into chaos: translating an infrastructure-first company into a scalable, human-centered experience. This foundational phase focused on unifying signage, wayfinding, and environmental cues to support efficiency, clarity, and brand cohesion across hundreds of sites worldwide.
Experience Overview: Mapping the Core Journey
A high-level user journey capturing the complete end-to-end experience. This strategic view establishes the foundation: clarifying key actors, major touchpoints, and the overall flow from order to delivery. It’s the alignment tool that ensures every team member understands the big picture before diving into details.
Blueprint & Systems Layer — Defining the Details
Expanding the journey into a granular service blueprint that captures specific actions, decisions, system handoffs, and operational dependencies. This stage transforms the initial map into a working model: revealing pain points, uncovering opportunities, and shaping requirements across physical, digital, and human layers.
Design Application: Translating Insights into Environment
The final evolution of the journey, where strategic mapping and system logic become tangible design solutions. Here, we layer wayfinding, signage, and environmental design directly onto the flow: bridging concept and execution to create a seamless, on-the-ground user experience.
2. Defining Facility Types & Core System
With the foundational framework in place, the next phase focused on defining the physical and visual DNA of Cloud Kitchens facilities. We developed standardized templates to streamline architectural layouts, signage zones, and wayfinding logic—ensuring operational clarity across markets. The brand’s core identity elements were translated into a modular design system flexible enough to adapt to varied facility types and scales. Together, these standards established a repeatable model that enabled teams across design, construction, and operations to launch kitchens faster and more consistently worldwide.
RFP catalogRFP catalogRFP catalogRFP catalogDesign componentsFM web portal
3. Facility Interiors
Building on the exterior and core system standards, interior environments were designed as turnkey spaces optimized for delivery-only operations. Each site utilizes a modular color and materials system that adapts to local layouts while maintaining brand cohesion. The 2.0 prototype introduced interior signage and circulation principles supporting G2W (Grill to Wheel) functionality—streamlining movement, efficiency, and visibility for kitchen teams and drivers alike.
Interior elevations establishing standardized color palettes and signage guidelines across facility types
Hardware and signage standards unifying materials, finishes, and typographic details
Standardized wall treatment options ensuring visual cohesion and flexibility across sites
Comprehensive paint and finish specifications establishing the interior design framework
Approved color families enabling variation while maintaining overall brand cohesion
Protoype renderings
LobbyProcessing centerHallway
4. Facility Exterior
Externally, each delivery-only site was designed to balance consistency and local adaptability. Facilities come in a range of sizes and configurations, yet follow a unified wayfinding and signage system optimized for fast, intuitive pickup. Clear visual cues: color, typography, and spatial logic, guide both couriers and customers through high-traffic areas, ensuring efficiency from arrival to handoff. The result is an exterior language that scales seamlessly while maintaining clarity and brand presence across markets.
Selecting site-appropriate signage and exterior components from our standardized system toolkit
Doral, FLSan Diego, CALos Angeles, CAFort Worth, TXToronto, CAPittsburgh, PAMinneapolis, MNDallas, TX
Decatur, ALAustin, TXCleveland, OHSt. Louis, MOMemphis, TN
Transitioning from design prototype to completed facility through on-site implementation5. Licensee branding on facilities
The brand system also extended to third-party partners operating within Cloud Kitchens sites. Each facility included a set of standardized exterior fixtures for licensee branding, ensuring consistency across markets while accommodating local codes and site constraints. Licensees supplied artwork within approved templates, allowing their visual identity to integrate seamlessly into the larger framework. Clear governance and approval protocols maintained brand integrity across hundreds of touchpoints, balancing flexibility for tenants with unified presentation at scale.
6. Walk-ins
As Cloud Kitchens expanded, a new customer behavior emerged: walk-ins—people arriving onsite to order or pick up food directly. This required an additional layer of signage and wayfinding tailored to a public-facing experience.
We developed a tertiary system to guide and orient this audience, introducing educational and instructional touchpoints at key decision zones. The result balanced the efficiency of driver-centric operations with an approachable experience for first-time visitors, ensuring every customer, whether walking, driving, or delivering, could navigate the space intuitively.
7. International System
With the core framework established, the next challenge was scaling the system globally. We developed a flexible set of brand and environmental guidelines that allowed regional teams, from Latin America and Brazil to Spain, Europe, and Asia, to localize while maintaining brand cohesion.
The international rollout emphasized adaptability: shared foundations in color, typography, and spatial hierarchy were paired with region-specific assets, enabling consistent implementation across diverse cultural and architectural contexts. This approach ensured every market could own its expression while remaining unmistakably part of the same unified system.
PedidosLab
Region — SPAINCookCity
Region — POLAND, HUNGARY, CZECH
KitchenCentral
Region — BRAZIL
VirtualKitchens
Region — CDMXLATMCooks
Region — LATM
8. Different types of facilities / Special case facility types
While most Cloud Kitchens facilities were delivery-only spaces built from a standardized system, some locations required unique design solutions. We developed adaptable frameworks for special-case sites: food halls, hybrid dine-in spaces, and region-specific hubs, all balanced local expression with global consistency.
Each environment leveraged the same core principles of modular design and clear wayfinding, yet allowed for greater narrative freedom—responding to cultural context, architectural constraints, and audience behavior. The result was a family of branded spaces that felt cohesive worldwide, yet characterful at every scale.
Example of a Food Hall Facility: Alton in Florida
Examples from a catalog of 40+ bespoke brands I created as part of the global system
Beverly Bites
Los Angeles, CACap Hill Kitchens
Seattle, WA
Williamsburg Eats
Brooklyn, NYEast Brooklyn Eats
Brooklyn, NY
South Coast Takeout
Santa Ana, CABath Food Co.
Providence, RIGaslamp Market
San Diego, CA
Lincoln Hardware
Tacoma, WA
Bronx Food Co.
Bronx, NYLegacy West Eats
Plano, TX
All Valley Eats
Van Nuys, CACocinas De Doral
Doral, FLCuisines Du Centenaire
Montreuil, FranceLake Union Eats
Seattle, WA
Oak Street Eats
Atlanta, GA
Dugout Eatery
Los Angeles, CA
Church Street Eats, New York, NYCulver City Cuisine
Culver City, CA
Midtown Foods
Nashville, TN
Surf City Eats
Huntington Beach, CAFairfoods
Philadelphia, PAUptown Eats
St. Petersburg, FL Mid Market Eats
San Francisco, CA
Fair Food Co.
Houston, TXGeorgetown Grub
Washington, DC
Junction Foodstop
Toronto, Canada
Legacy West Eats
Plano, TXFTL Foodhub
Fort Lauderdale, FLSactown Eats
Sacramento, CA
Utica Takeout
Brooklyn, NYScott’s Eats
Richmond, VA
The Rockwell Food Center
Chicago, IL
Northtown Mall Foodcourt
Minneapolis, MNPaper Table Dinette
Milwaukee, WI
The Duke
Los Angeles, CA
Blodgett Foodhall
Houston, TX
U District Eats
Seattle, WA
Red Hook Takeout
Brooklyn, NY
Allied Food To-Go
Pasadena, CA
South End Eats
Charlotte, NC
Motor City Food Co.
Detroit, MIDecatur, Food Hub
Decatur, GA
Charm City Food Co.
Baltimore, MA
Sud Ouest Eatz
Montreal, Canada