Pilotworks, the distributed kitchen service which raised $13 million in venture funding from investors including Campbell’s Soup Co.’s investment arm, is shutting down.
The company issued a brief statement on its website yesterday with the news
It is with a heavy heart that after failing to raise the necessary capital to continue operations, Pilotworks will cease operations on October 13th, 2018. We realize the shock of this news and the disruption it causes for the independent food community we were so honored to serve.
This is a sad outcome for Pilotworks, the makers in our kitchens, and independent food in general. We wish there was another option to continue operating. Sadly, there was not. The work the independent food community is doing is amazing and inspiring. We know it will live on and we are deeply sorry it will not be with Pilotworks.
Questions can directed to questions@pilotworks.com and we will make every attempt to answer them the best we can.
Regretfully,
Pilotworks
Even as Pilotworks closes its doors. Other startups are ramping up distributed kitchens to appeal to established chains and new food concepts.
It seems that by focusing on new food entrepreneurs rather than reaching out to established chains, Pilotworks wasn’t able to reach the scale that its investors had hoped for.
In June, Pilotworks co-founder and chief executive Nick Devane stepped down from the CEO role and was replaced by company chief operating officer, Zach Ware, according to a report in The Spoon.
Over a month later the company began retrenching and shuttering locations in Providence, R.I. and Portland, Maine where the company had set up locations.