What Sessions does

Sessions is a London-based, privately held growth platform for third-party food brands, founded in 2020 by former Deliveroo Managing Director Dan Warne. The company licenses proven, founder-led food brands — including SoBe Burger, Mikos Gyros, Little Bao Boy, Ivan Ramen, Bangtan, and Hawkins Diner (a Netflix IP collaboration) — and deploys them across a national UK network of 400+ delivery kitchens and 15 QSR franchise sites, reaching over 60% of the UK population without building new physical sites. Its core technology is Sessions Serve, a proprietary operating system that consolidates orders, menus, payments, stock, and reporting across delivery platforms (Deliveroo, Uber Eats, Just Eat) and supplier integrations, augmented by an AI-driven insights engine called Agatha and a quality/performance tool called Sessions Score.

Sessions generates revenue through a brand licensing and royalty model on the deployment and ongoing sales throughput of its brand portfolio across the kitchen network, supplemented by franchise fees from the QSR channel and branded menu partnerships with marketing partners (most notably a two-year exclusive Netflix deal). Customers split into three primary segments: food brand founders seeking national scale without capex, delivery kitchen operators adding high-demand brands to underutilised capacity (reporting 40% average sales uplift), and QSR franchisees operating multi-brand sites on the high street. The company reached 5M+ lifetime orders, £65M in sales with EBITDA profitability as of early 2026, and is ranked #14 in The Sunday Times 100 Tech and #77 in Sifted's Europe Tech 250.

Name

Sessions

Legal name

Sessions

Website

https://sessions.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Sessions is a London-based food brand licensing and growth platform that scales proven restaurant brands — including SoBe Burger, Mikos Gyros, and Netflix's Hawkins Diner — across a UK network of 400+ delivery kitchens and QSR franchise sites, serving brand founders, kitchen operators, and franchisees.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Food Brand Licensing & Restaurant Distribution

NAICS

Limited-Service Restaurants (722513)

SIC

Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810)

akta.pro primary industry

Licensing & Franchise Virtual Brand Platforms (THAFAJAF)

Keywords

• Food brand licensing
• Restaurant distribution platform
• Delivery kitchen network
• Quick service franchising
• Multi-brand restaurant operations

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Brand Licensing & Franchising: Sessions licenses proven food brands (e.g., SoBe Burger, Ivan Ramen, Little Bao Boy, Mikos Gyros) into its network of delivery kitchens and QSR franchisees. The company takes a licensing/royalty model, generating revenue from brand deployment fees and ongoing royalties based on sales throughput across its kitchen network.
2. Delivery Kitchen Partnership Revenue: Sessions partners with 400+ kitchen operators, adding its brand portfolio to their existing kitchen capacity. Partners generate revenue from increased order volumes, and Sessions earns a share through its licensing model. Partners reportedly grow their sales by 40% on average.
3. Franchise Fees (QSR Model): Sessions enables franchisees to open multi-brand QSR sites under its brand portfolio. The model is described as low capex with market-leading returns delivered in under 2 years. Sessions handles site finding, design, fit-out, and training for franchisees.
4. Netflix Partnership Revenue: Sessions develops exclusive branded food menus (e.g., Hawkins Diner for Stranger Things, Squid Game Korean Fried Chicken) in partnership with Netflix. These menus are deployed across the kitchen network and drive incremental order volume. The Netflix tie-in generated 56,000 orders in its first three months and £1 million GMV.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Sessions licenses proven third-party food brands (such as SoBe Burger, Mikos Gyros, Little Bao Boy, Ivan Ramen, Hawkins Diner, and Bangtan) and deploys them nationally through a network of 400+ partner delivery kitchens and multi-brand QSR franchise sites. The company provides brand training, supply chain management, and its proprietary Sessions Serve operating system to enable rapid national scaling without partners building new physical sites. Revenue is generated through brand licensing royalties, franchise fees, and partnership arrangements with kitchen operators.

Product overview

Sessions is a food brand licensing and growth platform that turns loved local food brands into national franchises through a dual-format model. The core technology is Sessions Serve - a proprietary operating system managing orders, menus, payments and stock across the network. The platform operates two distinct distribution channels: delivery kitchens (400+ partner sites enabling rapid delivery-first expansion) and quick service restaurants (franchise sites on the high street). The portfolio includes seven food brands: SoBe Burger (Miami burgers, £20M+ annual sales), Mikos Gyros (Greek cuisine, 150 locations), Little Bao Boy (Taiwanese bao, 100+ locations), Hawkins Diner (Netflix Stranger Things collaboration), Ivan Ramen (premium Japanese ramen), Bangtan (Korean fried chicken), and Hawkins Diner (Netflix IP partnership). The company also holds an exclusive two-year Netflix partnership to create branded food menus for shows including Squid Game, Bridgerton, and Stranger Things.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• SoBe Burger: Miami-inspired South Beach burger brand; fastest growing burger franchise in UK with 250+ locations and 9.4 million burgers served.
• Mikos Gyros
• Little Bao Boy
• Ivan Ramen
• Hawkins Diner
• Bangtan
• Chick'n'Sours

Products and services

• Sessions Serve

Quantifiable outcome

• 400+ partner kitchens enabling national brand deployment without new site builds
• +7 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 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

AI capability5 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• NetflixcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 4 December 2025Sessions entered a two-year exclusive partnership with Netflix in December 2025 to create branded food menus inspired by Netflix shows including Squid Game, Bridgerton, and Stranger Things. Sessions develops the menus, designs the packaging, trains franchise kitchens, manages supply chain, and deploys across its UK kitchen network. Netflix provides exclusive IP access. The partnership generated 56,000 orders and £1M GMV in its first three months.
• DeliveroocoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 6 November 2025Deliveroo is the exclusive delivery platform for Hawkins Diner (Stranger Things) and other Netflix-branded menus developed by Sessions. Sessions leverages its kitchen network and Deliveroo's rider network for nationwide distribution. The partnership is described as a shared commitment to quality and consumer experience, with Deliveroo handling last-mile delivery while Sessions manages kitchen operations and brand execution.

Scale indicators19 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Honest Burgers: UK-founded burger QSR chain with high-street locations nationwide. Comparable as a UK burger QSR brand in the same category as Sessions' flagship SoBe Burger, though operates a single-brand model.
• Tortilla: UK's largest burrito QSR chain with dine-in and delivery locations across the country. Comparable as a UK QSR chain in the same broad category, though operates a single-brand rather than multi-brand portfolio model.
• Itsu: UK Asian-inspired QSR chain offering sushi, bao, and hot bowls via dine-in, delivery, and grocery. Comparable as a UK multi-brand QSR operator with delivery-led growth, though not directly a licensing platform.

Direct peers

• CloudKitchens: Travis Kalanick-backed ghost kitchen infrastructure operator that licenses restaurant brands into delivery-only kitchens. Directly comparable to Sessions' model of deploying branded menus into underutilised kitchen real estate at scale.
• Kitchen United: US ghost kitchen network operator (now part of REEF) providing shared kitchen facilities and off-premise food production for multiple restaurant brands, mirroring Sessions' delivery kitchen partner model.
• Wonder: US multi-brand delivery-first food platform (founded by Jet.com's Marc Lore) operating a portfolio of restaurant brands from shared kitchen hubs. Closest direct competitor in the multi-brand delivery-first concept.
• C3 (Creating Culinary Communities): Virtual restaurant brand operator that builds, markets, and scales proprietary food brands (e.g., Krispy Rice, Sam's Crispy Chicken) across digital channels. Comparable business model of owning and licensing food brands for delivery kitchens.
• Nextbite: US virtual restaurant brand company that partners with ghost kitchens and existing operators to license and scale delivery-only food brands. Direct competitor in the brand licensing into delivery kitchens model.
• Deliveroo Editions: Deliveroo's in-house ghost kitchen concept placing curated restaurant brands into dedicated delivery kitchens across the UK. Directly overlaps with Sessions' delivery kitchen network and is owned by Sessions founder Dan Warne's former employer.

Emerging players

• Karma: UK-based dark kitchen and virtual brand operator providing takeaway delivery through network of partner kitchens. Partial overlap with Sessions' delivery kitchen model, focused on virtual brand aggregation.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sessionsuk
• Instagraminstagram.com/sessions_uk

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors3 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 Sessions