What Taster does

Taster is a private, creator-economy food brand platform founded in 2017 and headquartered in London with its primary legal entity (TASTER SAS) registered in Paris. It conceives, operates and scales digital-first restaurant brands in collaboration with content creators, Michelin-credentialed chefs and brand partners under a co-venture model in which creators hold equity and earn a percentage of sales. Its portfolio comprises seven distinct sub-brands — Out Fry (Korean fried chicken with two-Michelin-star chef Sang-Hoon Degeimbre, the founding brand), Pepe Chicken (with FastGoodCuisine, 110+ cities), Starsmash (with Amixem), Spud Bros Express (UK jacket potatoes), Sheesh! (with Michelin-starred chef Danny Khezzar), La Vie Dirty Burgers (with plant-based supplier La Vie), and Crousty Crew — distributed through Deliveroo, Uber Eats, its proprietary FeedMe click-and-collect platform, a network of 120-130+ franchise-operated Taster Stores (single-brand and 2.0 multi-brand food-court formats) and a new UK forecourt channel via a three-year partnership with EG On The Move.

The underlying platform is a proprietary technology stack that combines performance and operations tooling, the FeedMe direct-ordering platform, GDPR-compliant data infrastructure, and franchise-management software shared across all brands. Taster monetizes through direct food sales at company-operated stores, recurring franchise fees and royalties on the 120+ franchise sites, creator revenue-share arrangements under each co-venture, and delivery-app transaction fees from third-party orders. Unit economics are disclosed at €825K-€1.4M average yearly sales per location, with the network serving 8M+ meals in 2024 and 11M+ meals in 2025 across France, the UK, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The company has cumulatively raised approximately $50M of disclosed venture funding (Series C led by Octopus Ventures in 2021) and operates with approximately 51-100 corporate staff plus 1,300+ local franchise and store jobs in France.

Name

Taster

Legal name

TASTER (Société par actions simplifiée, capital social 2 705 000 euros, RCS Paris 830 345 286, siège social 47 Boulevard de Courcelles, 75008 Paris)

Website

https://taster.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Taster is a creator-economy food brand platform that conceives, operates and franchises digital-first restaurant brands with content creators and chefs, running 130+ sites across five European countries and serving 11M+ meals per year through delivery apps, its own stores and franchisees.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Quick-Service Restaurant (QSR) Operations & Foodservice Franchise

NAICS

Specialty Food Retailers (4452), Caterers (722320), Food Manufacturing (311)

SIC

Retail-Eating Places (5812), Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810), Food And Kindred Products (2000)

akta.pro primary industry

Chocolate & Confectionery Patisseries (Bonbons, Truffles, Macarons) (THAFAFAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Specialty & Dietary Catering (Vegan, Kosher, Halal, Allergy-Friendly) (HSACAGAH), Snack Bars (Granola, Protein, Cereal Bars) (CRADABAG)

Keywords

• Food franchise operations
• Creator-led restaurant brands
• Quick service restaurants
• Digital food delivery
• Ghost kitchen network

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Supply Chain, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Direct food sales through Taster Stores: Revenue from in-store purchases, takeaway, and click & collect at multi-format Taster Stores (single-brand or 2.0 food-court style multi-brand). Includes brand-average unit economics disclosed on the franchise page: ~€825K-€1.4M average yearly sales per location.
2. Franchise fees and royalties: Recurring revenue from the franchise network of over 120 active sites across Europe, including franchisee setup, brand licensing, and ongoing royalty or revenue share tied to each franchised location.
3. Creator co-venture revenue share: Each creator-led brand is built as a shared-ownership venture: Taster manages operations, sourcing, and growth; creators hold equity and earn a percentage of sales from day one, aligning incentives between Taster and the creator partner.
4. Third-party delivery sales: Revenue from orders placed through Deliveroo and Uber Eats, extending brand reach beyond the physical store footprint.

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels6 records

Core offering

Taster creates and operates a portfolio of digitally native restaurant brands (Out Fry, Pepe Chicken, Starsmash, Spud Bros Express, Sheesh!, La Vie Dirty Burgers, Crousty Crew) in partnership with content creators, chefs, and brand partners. These brands are sold to consumers through own multi-format Taster Stores, a franchise network of 120+ sites, click & collect (FeedMe), and third-party delivery platforms (Deliveroo, Uber Eats) across 90+ European cities.

Product overview

Taster operates a platform-plus-modules architecture in which a central creator-brand and franchise platform ("Power to Creators") and physical retail network ("Taster Stores") underpin a portfolio of distinct creator-led food brands delivered as modules through delivery apps (Deliveroo, Uber Eats), click & collect, and in-store formats. The brand portfolio includes the founding flagship Out Fry (Korean fried chicken), Pepe Chicken (with FastGoodCuisine), Starsmash (with Amixem), Spud Bros Express (UK jacket potatoes, expanding via EG On The Move), Sheesh! (with Danny Khezzar), Crousty Crew, and La Vie Dirty Burgers (with La Vie). Across more than 120 active kitchens and 90 cities in France, the UK, Belgium, and Luxembourg, these sub-brands share Taster's sourcing, tech, operational, and franchise infrastructure while maintaining distinct visual identities, menus, and creator partnerships.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Out Fry: Korean-inspired fried-chicken brand (tenders, wings, burgers, signature sauces) co-founded in 2017 with Michelin-starred chef Sang-Hoon Degeimbre; available in the UK, France and the Netherlands.
• Pepe Chicken
• Starsmash
• Spud Bros Express
• La Vie Dirty Burgers
• Sheesh!
• Crousty Crew

Products and services

• Taster Stores Multi-format physical retail concept offering single-brand stores or 2.0 food courts combining multiple Taster sub-brands; supports dine-in, takeaway, click & collect, and delivery via Deliveroo and Uber Eats.
• Power to Creators (Taster Creator Platform)

Quantifiable outcome

• 120+ (English) / 130+ (French) active kitchens operating across France, UK, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands
• +7 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.

• EG On The MoveflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 May 2026Three-year strategic partnership to roll out 30 new SpudBros Express roadside locations on EG On The Move petrol forecourts across the UK, with 15 sites confirmed for 2026. The Devon (Barnstaple) opening on 19 May 2026 follows recent launches in London, Liverpool, Sheffield and Portsmouth. Executives describe the deal as a significant milestone for the brand, reflecting growing demand for freshly prepared roadside food.
• La ViecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2024Co-venture announced in December 2024 with plant-based food brand La Vie to create the La Vie Dirty Burgers concept — a fully plant-based menu of burgers, croques, and sides — bringing La Vie's sustainable brand together with Taster's operating platform.
• DeliveroocoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorEstablished third-party delivery partnership distributing Taster brands (Out Fry, Pepe Chicken, Starsmash, La Vie Dirty Burgers, Crousty Crew) to consumers across France and the UK. Featured as a primary delivery option in Taster's Stores and on brand pages.
• Uber EatscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorEstablished third-party delivery partnership distributing Taster brands in France and the UK. Cited as a delivery partner on the Stores and brand pages, including Out Fry, Pepe Chicken, Starsmash, and La Vie Dirty Burgers storefronts.
• FastGoodCuisine (Charles Gilles-Compagnon)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-venture with YouTube creator Charles Gilles-Compagnon (FastGoodCuisine, +6M subscribers) to build and scale the Pepe Chicken brand as a tribute to his grandfather Pepe. The brand has become one of Taster's flagship concepts, operating in 110+ cities across France and Belgium with XXL boxes of tenders and wings, signature-sauce burgers, and rotating new recipes.
• Amixem (Maxime Chabroud)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-venture with French content creator Amixem (Maxime Chabroud, ~9M subscribers, 3B+ views) to launch and scale the Starsmash smash-burger brand in France, with a stated ambition to become France's leading smash burger brand by 2026.
• Danny KhezzarflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-venture with Michelin-starred chef Danny Khezzar to launch the Sheesh! sandwich brand — a soft brioche "sando" concept built around house-made sauces, creative toppings, and an evolving menu. Positioned as "Michelin-starred chef street food, accessible to all."
• Sang-Hoon DegeimbreflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounding chef partner for Out Fry in 2017. South Korean-born chef Sang-Hoon Degeimbre, holder of two Michelin stars, provides the Korean-inspired flavor profile for Taster's flagship fried-chicken brand, including signature sauces, marinades, and rotating limited editions.
• Infomaniak Network SAcoreTechnology or IntegrationHosting provider for taster.com, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Provides the technical infrastructure underpinning Taster's owned digital properties and GDPR-compliant operations.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• CloudKitchens: Travis Kalanick-founded ghost kitchen operator providing kitchen infrastructure for delivery-only food brands globally. Directly comparable to Taster as a virtual restaurant / dark kitchen platform, listed alongside Taster in Next Move Strategy Consulting's major-player analysis.
• Rebel Foods: India-headquartered multi-brand virtual restaurant operator running dozens of delivery-only brands from shared kitchens. Comparable to Taster as a multi-brand, kitchen-shared, creator-led virtual restaurant platform; named alongside Taster in the same market analysis.
• Kitopi: UAE-based cloud kitchen operator powering delivery-only restaurant brands across MENA, Asia and Europe. Directly comparable as a managed cloud-kitchen platform enabling multi-brand delivery; named alongside Taster in major-player analyses.
• REEF Technology: US-headquartered operator of neighborhood kitchens, mobile kitchens and parking-lot ghost kitchens for food brands. Comparable to Taster in the ghost-kitchen / virtual-restaurant category; named alongside Taster in the same market analysis.

Broad incumbents

• Deliveroo Editions: Deliveroo's delivery-only kitchen infrastructure product, which builds shared kitchens from which multiple restaurant brands operate for delivery. Directly comparable as a delivery-only kitchen operator, but operates as part of Deliveroo's broader marketplace business rather than as an independent brand creator.
• Pret a Manger: UK-founded global fast-casual sandwich/salad chain with hundreds of European sites. Comparable as a UK-headquartered, multi-site, multi-country QSR operator with a digital ordering (app and click & collect) proposition, though at much larger scale and as a single-brand incumbent.
• Wagamama: UK-founded pan-Asian fast-casual restaurant chain with significant European footprint. Comparable as a multi-site, multi-country European QSR operator with brand-led digital ordering and delivery partnerships.

Regional players

• Farmer J: London-based, multi-site QSR operator focused on fresh, healthy, all-day dining. Comparable as a UK-headquartered, multi-site, multi-format QSR operator with a tech-forward, quality-led value proposition, though focused on dine-in/takeaway rather than delivery-first.
• Leon Restaurants: UK-based fast-casual QSR brand operating more than 70 sites across the UK and Europe. Comparable as a UK and European multi-site QSR operator with a differentiated, quality-led menu approach, though it operates a single-brand model rather than Taster's multi-brand portfolio.

Emerging players

• Crustacean / BIRD / Other London ghost-kitchen startups: A wave of London/European early-stage cloud-kitchen and virtual-restaurant startups (e.g., BIRD, Crustacean) building delivery-first food brands. Comparable as emerging European ghost-kitchen / virtual-restaurant operators targeting overlapping urban delivery customers, though at materially smaller scale than Taster.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/tasterkitchens
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/tasterkitchens
• Instagraminstagram.com/tasterkitchens
• TikToktiktok.com/@tasterkitchens

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds6 records

Investors10 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Taster