# Taster Financial Model

Taster builds delivery-only digital restaurant brands (DRBs) and licenses them to partner restaurants via a capex-light franchise model.

- Canonical: https://finamodel.com/startups/taster
- Excel download: https://finamodel.com/startup-models/taster.xlsx
- Category: Logistics/Mobility
- Model type: SaaS ARR / Valuation
- Funding round: Series B
- Funding: $37M
- Founded: 2021
- Geography: Europe-first (Paris as primary market, London expansion visible); [DECK] "#3 third largest delivery GMV in Paris" (slide 4).
- Customer: B2C

## About the company

Taster creates delivery-only digital restaurant brands and licenses them to partner restaurants. Its capex-light franchise model expands concepts without owning every kitchen.

The model should start with partner kitchens and active brands, then translate those drivers into orders and royalty or licence fees. This separates expansion through partners from demand at individual restaurants.

Forecast food economics, partner churn, and marketing spend alongside royalty revenue. The result should show whether brand growth through licensed kitchens can scale without the capital needs of owning every site. It should retain each partner restaurant’s role in operating the delivery-only concepts and serving orders daily.

## What's included

- 5-year monthly revenue build with stage-appropriate growth assumptions
- Full P&L, headcount plan, and operating-expense schedule
- Cash-flow statement, runway, and burn-rate tracking
- Valuation via exit multiple with a DCF cross-check
- Returns analysis with MOIC and IRR
- Unit economics including CAC, LTV, payback, and cohort retention

## Product & value proposition

- Portfolio of 5 delivery-native street food brands: Out Fry (Korean fried chicken), a Vietnamese brand, Dirty (vegan burgers), Stacksando (Japanese comfort food), a Taiwanese bao/rice box brand. Crafted with Michelin-starred chefs (Chef Sang-Hoon Degeimbre, 2 stars).
- Customer rating: 4.6/5.
- Taster operates own pilot kitchens to test brands, then licenses them to partner restaurants ("network kitchens") - zero capex for partners (equipment investment 0–€2k), 2-week launch time.
- Proprietary software suite (OneBoard dashboard, OneTablet order manager, OneSource supply-chain/ML forecasting) included in franchise offering.

## Revenue model

- Royalty / franchise take-rate on every transaction: Taster earns a margin on GMV generated by partner restaurants selling its DRBs through delivery aggregators (Deliveroo, Uber Eats, etc.).
- Supply-chain margin: Taster buys food ingredients in bulk from suppliers and resells to franchisee partners - earns a spread on food cost.
- Enterprise aggregator deals: platform-level agreements with delivery aggregators provide preferential terms and visibility.
- No explicit royalty rate %, take-rate %, or supply margin % disclosed in deck.

## Traction & metrics

- 5 digital restaurant brands
- 1M meals delivered in 2020
- #3 third largest delivery GMV in Paris
- 3 years of operation prior to 2021 deck
- 4.6/5 customer rating
- Partner launch case: Bombay Burrito (London, N1) - launched September 2020, 2-week launch, zero capex
- No revenue figures, GMV €-value, order count by city, or YoY growth rates provided.

## Unit economics

- Partner-side: 0–€2k equipment capex, existing kitchen + staff leveraged, contribution margin generated from day one.
- Taster-side: "high margin on every transaction", "no fixed costs and Opex", "no capex" - all qualitative, no figures.
- No CAC, LTV, payback period, gross margin %, or AOV disclosed.

## Competition / moat

- Moat claimed: strong brands + market-leading tech + franchise partner relationships + supply-chain economies of scale.
- Positioning: explicitly rejects "logistics company" framing (slide 2); compares model to Domino's franchise architecture.
- No named competitors shown; no market-share comparison table.

## Team & funding ask / use of funds

- CEO: Anton Soulier - ex-Deliveroo employee #7, ex-Deputy GM France
- COO: Aubert Loury - ex-Domino's Supply Chain Director
- CMO: Ian Pate - ex-PepsiCo, Careem, Global Brand Marketing VP
- CFO: Caroline Tulloch - Bridges, EY, strategic finance
- CTO: Dayvid Kayal - ex-Artefact, Head of Data Engineering
- Advisors/investors: Will Shu (Founder & CEO, Deliveroo); Noah Glass (Founder & CEO, Olo)

## Recommended financial model

- Archetype + why: **Franchise GMV / royalty P&L model** - Taster's economics are driven by GMV flowing through partner kitchens; Taster captures a royalty take-rate plus a supply-chain spread. This is structurally similar to a ghost-kitchen franchise (Domino's analogue), not a pure SaaS or DTC model. A 3-statement model is secondary; the primary output should be a GMV-to-revenue bridge with two revenue streams (royalty take + food-cost spread), feeding into a simple contribution P&L.
- Forecast horizon & granularity: 3 years monthly (2021–2023), shifting to quarterly in year 3. Monthly needed to capture kitchen partner ramp.
- Key drivers & assumptions:
  - Number of active partner kitchens (locations): unknown starting count; 50 active locations at model start (inferred from "1M meals / 2020" and typical 20k meals/location/year run-rate) - to be validated.
  - Monthly meals per active location: ~1,700/month (~55/day across 5 brands); consistent with fast-casual delivery volumes.
  - Average order value (AOV): €12–15 per meal, consistent with Deliveroo/Uber Eats street food pricing in Paris/London.
  - Taster royalty take-rate on GMV: 15–20% of GMV, based on comparable ghost-kitchen / virtual brand franchise comps (Kitchen United, Reef).
  - Food-cost supply spread: 8–12% margin on food COGS passed through to partners.
  - New kitchen partner adds per month: 10–20 in near-term scaling phase; accelerates with enterprise aggregator deal wins.
  - Kitchen partner churn: 5% annual; partners are sticky once operational.
  - Delivery aggregator commission (paid by partner, not Taster): 25–30% of GMV; reduces partner economics but does not directly flow through Taster P&L.
  - Brand count growth: 5 brands currently; 2–3 new brands/year to expand catalogue.
  - Headcount / opex: lean central team (~30–50 FTEs in 2021, scaling to 100–150 by 2023); dominated by tech, brand, and supply chain functions.
  - Capex: near-zero (partner kitchens); modest central kitchen for brand R&D + tech infra.
- Scenarios (Base / Bull / Bear - which variables flex):
  - Base: 10 new kitchens/month, 15% royalty take-rate, AOV €13.
  - Bull: 20 new kitchens/month (enterprise deal acceleration), 18% royalty rate, AOV €15 (premium brand mix).
  - Bear: 5 new kitchens/month (slower partner adoption), 12% royalty rate, AOV €11 (competitive pressure on pricing).
- Required sheets / outputs:
  1. Assumptions - all drivers above with toggles for Base/Bull/Bear.
  2. GMV Build - partner kitchens × meals/location × AOV → total GMV by brand and geography.
  3. Revenue Bridge - GMV → royalty revenue + supply-chain revenue → net revenue.
  4. P&L - net revenue → COGS (food procurement cost) → gross profit → opex (headcount, tech, marketing) → EBITDA.
  5. Kitchen Cohort Schedule - monthly adds, ramp curve, steady-state output per cohort.
  6. Cash & Runway - simplified cash flow; key given no capex but opex burn to reach breakeven.
  7. KPI Dashboard - GMV, active locations, meals delivered, revenue per location, take-rate.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is the Taster financial model free?

Yes. The Taster model is a free Excel download with live formulas.

### Can I change the assumptions?

Yes. The workbook is editable and its live formulas recalculate when assumptions change.