Lockdowns do not prevent creativity or entrepreneurs from getting started. Here, there is no startup, no blockchain, and no physical space, instead there is a cloud. We introduce to you – Cloud Factory, a ghost kitchen specializing in artisanal pizza making!
Making the best out of a cosy confinement evening: Win a pizza diner for two (2 pizzas + 2 drinks) offered by Cloud Factory and Silicon Luxembourg. Follow @cloudfactory.pizza & @siliconluxembourg on Instagram and tag two people in the comments below.
Four entrepreneurs – Tom, Louis, Francesco, and Maurice – joined forces in the middle of the second lockdown to open their shop in the Neudorf district on December 28.
There is no restaurant, no tables or chairs to sit on, but there is a unique kitchen where four people are busy preparing pizzas and managing orders. “We are motivated by new projects every day. This one is a real pleasure project that goes beyond the scope of our daily activities in finance, strategy, or consulting,” says Maurice Delcourt, one of the co-founders.
The principle of Cloud Factory is simple: we only make pizzas, there are then available either for delivery via the new Goosty delivery platform, or to take away.
And their flagship product? The Neapolitan pizza, and it’s not just any pizza. A notable gastronomic difference, according to the entrepreneurs, if you compare it to the Roman pizza that floods the tables of Luxembourg.
“We began studying the feasibility of the project last April and have tried to optimize everything, from the space in which our kitchen is located, to the products we use and the boxes that keep the flavor of our pizzas intact.”
The master of the recipes is Francesco. An engineer by training – and Neapolitan! – he’s a pizza fanatic, and the pizza dough is sacred to him. After multiple tests, he found the ideal formula to create a special homemade pizza dough suitable for delivery.
Topped with fresh locally-sourced products and authentic ingredients from Italy, he also brought a unique oven from Naples that allows the team to bake pizzas in 60 seconds, tops.
The principle of ghost kitchens, which is supposed to bring together several restaurateurs for delivery has been adapted to offer only one kitchen and one type of product. An ideal optimization to offer a dozen pizzas in a chain.
Francesco designed the product, while the other partners are responsible for marketing, accounting, and human resources.
And what about the digital aspect of all this, you might wonder? That’s where Maurice, one of the co-founders and also a well-known entrepreneur in Luxembourg, comes in. A specialist in digital marketing and strategy consulting, he is the co-founder of Yuzer Group and Super8. For Cloud Factory, he created the presence of the ghost kitchen on Instagram and Facebook, then a web page, and then created a presence on the website Goosty, which now delivers pizzas all over the city.
“We saw it take off, thanks to several influencers in Luxembourg. The beginning was incredible.” Word of mouth and flyers do the rest. “We target young people, expats, and families who can have their pizzas ready in five minutes if you come to pick them up, or in 15-30 minutes thanks to the delivery men and women whose route we (and the customer) can follow in real-time,” tells Maurice Delcourt.
The business is already swamped with orders in this little Neapolitan corner located between the city center and the Kirchberg business district. Despite the current restrictions, things seem look upward for this group of entrepreneurs who have gone from theory to practice with their company – The Kitchen Theory. The Vegan Garden and the Margherita have just made an entry on our pizza shortlist for our long working days at home.
