sbe Entertainment Group, the leading lifestyle hospitality company that develops, manages and operates award-winning global brands, announced the launch of C3 (Creating Culinary Communities), which will introduce to the world a revolutionary way to approach food halls, ghost kitchens and mobile delivery.
The first company of its kind, C3 will act as an incubator of limited service culinary brands, comprised of both new concepts and evolutions of established, highly successful full-service sbe restaurants.
C3 is being launched as a partnership between sbe; Simon, a global leader in the ownership of premier shopping, dining, entertainment and mixed-use destinations; and Accor, the world-leading augmented hospitality group offering unique experiences in more than 5,000 hotels and residences across 110 destinations. By combining sbe’s ability to build and grow successful, award-winning food and beverage concepts, Simon’s extensive real estate footprint and Accor’s international hotel base of 5,000 global properties, C3 is enviably positioned to be the leader and pioneer in this space.
Sam Nazarian, Founder & CEO of sbe and majority shareholder of C3 commented, “sbe, for the past two decades has created leading culinary experiences for hotels, restaurants and nightlife. Now, through C3, we are bringing the same creative thinking directly to how consumers want their food: from phone-to-table in under 30 minutes and for under 30 dollars. We are setting our sights on the future of how people choose to consume their food and are approaching food halls, ghost kitchens and mobile delivery in a unique fashion. I view C3 as the Netflix-equivalent of food and beverage as we focus on constantly creating culinary content that can be delivered to consumers via non-traditional distribution channels. C3 will be the first entity to bring single operator, multi-branded solutions to food halls, ghost kitchens and mobile delivery. Consumers will see the hallmarks of the sbe portfolio across C3: high quality, consistent and innovation-driven food brought to consumers through their preferred methods.”
Mr. Nazarian continued, “I am humbled to partner with my dear friend David Simon, a real estate titan and well-respected global innovator. Simon and C3 is a perfect match through Simon’s global real estate platform and their continued commitment to rethinking consumer experiences. This also marks the ongoing expansion of the already game-changing partnership with Sébastien Bazin and the venerable Accor team. The Accor partnership will allow C3 to rethink the use of hotel real estate to play a significant role in the world of delivery, revolutionizing the in-room dining experience and, in turn, growing the delivery footprint of our C3 brands.”
“We’re extremely excited to partner with sbe on the launch of C3. Sam Nazarian is a true visionary who’s redefining the future of lifestyle hospitality and we share his passion for innovation and disruption. Our unrivalled portfolio of iconic retail, dining and entertainment destinations generates billions of visits each year and provide an ideal platform to re-imagine dining and culinary experiences that meet the evolving tastes of our customers. C3 is another example of Simon partnering with dynamic, best-in-class brands to build the next generation of experiential destinations,” said David Simon, Chairman, CEO and President of Simon.
“Accor is thrilled to be taking part in the revolution sbe is triggering within the industry. We are constantly on the lookout for new disruptive trends, and typically the C3 platform is a phenomenally innovative concept that will take guest experiences to new heights,” said Sébastien Bazin, Chairman and CEO of Accor.
C3 will be the first instance of a global lifestyle hospitality company entering into the ghost kitchen space, where it will take a different approach than other ghost kitchen models. Rather than focusing solely on convenience, C3 will bring high-quality food, created by the world’s leading chefs, directly to your door or food hall.
All three partners of C3 bring ample opportunity for ghost kitchens to occupy currently underutilized spaces in an innovative manner, such as existing kitchen facilities across the sbe and Accor networks.
C3 is excited to reveal the first four chefs to join its platform – world-famous Chefs Dani Garcia, Masaharu Morimoto, Dario Cecchini and sbe Chief Culinary Officer, Martin Heierling. Chef Garcia, as a three-star Michelin chef and one of the leading Andalusian chefs in the world, will launch his Mediterranean tapas-style concept across the C3 ghost kitchen ecosystem. Chef Morimoto has garnered critical and popular acclaim for his signature style featuring seamless integration of Western and Japanese ingredients. The award-winning Butcher, Dario Cecchini, will launch his Tuscan interpretation of an Italian sandwich shop.
C3 will launch Citizens, its first major eatery, in the heart of Brookfield Properties’ Manhattan West development in New York City. The 40,000 square foot space, designed by award-winning interior designer David Rockwell, will contain a curated collection of established and new proprietary culinary brands at two full-service restaurants, multiple bars and a fast-casual market hall.
Citizens will be powered by a 5,000 square foot ghost kitchen, one of the largest in New York City, that will serve customers both at the food hall as well as through delivery.
Mr. Nazarian commented, “Using our strong, chef-driven culinary brands, we are reimagining the traditional food hall to bring even better experiences and higher quality food to consumers with technology, sustainability and loyalty at the forefront of that thought process. We are going to bring culinary brands to the ghost kitchen concept, utilizing existing kitchens across the sbe and Accor universe, as well as current Simon properties.”