Camile Thai is expanding into the United States through a partnership with Kitchen United Mix.

The Irish-founded Asian food chain has opened two outlets in Chicago as a delivery and takeout-only operation, with plans to open a further three this year.

Under the terms of the partnership, Camile Thai licenses Kitchen United its brand and technology, and they get a local restaurant operator to cook the food in their kitchen.

Camile Thai provides its recipies, logistics, technology, and marketing support.

The Camile Thai and Kitchen United partnership will continue to grow this year, with new locations opening in Chicago River North, Pasadena and Austin.

Camile Thai CEO Brody Sweeney said: “We are excited to bring our concept to the US and work closely with Kitchen United given its definitive leadership position in the ghost kitchen industry, along with an impressive list of existing and prospective operator partners.”

Founded in 2017, Kitchen United is a provider of restaurant hub technology, logistics and turn-key commercial kitchen space.

It has raised $56m (€46m) to date in venture capital funding from a number of investors including Google Ventures (GV), Fidelity and real-estate firms Divco West and RXR Realty.

Since opening its first restaurant in 2010, Camile Thai has expanded to 40 locations in Ireland and the UK.

The Brody Sweeney-headed company says it currently serves over 10,000 meals every day to consumers across its network of franchised and company-owned locations.

While the company has a dine-in offering, it is more focused on home delivery.

It has performed well during the pandemic, as people’s eating habits changed.

“A number of things just came right for us. Firstly we are primary suburban-based, not urban. We have very little in city centres… we have only got one in [Dublin city centre] Pearse Street and that has been our worst performer.

“People have been spending a lot more time at home and we have been able to serve them conveniently,” Mr Sweeney said.

“We were doing 70pc home delivery before the pandemic happened, we built up from there. It was in our DNA, the delivery bit,” he added.

The company plans to open 15 more sites in Ireland and the UK between now and Christmas, including in Skerries, Blackrock and Phibsborough. 

This will create an additional 300 jobs. Most of the new outlets will be based in Ireland, resulting in 220 jobs here.

The company intends to have between 60 and 70 outlets in London within the next five years and is raising €10m this year to help fuel expansion plans.

Camile Thai says its strategy is tech-centric with investments in drone delivery, kitchen robotics and cloud kitchens.

It added it is creating “a new premium delivery dining sector based on health, sustainability and speed”.

Investors include Paddy Cosgrave, ex-Paddy Power CEO Andy McCue and entrepreneur Brian Caulfield.