Serious warning to small food…
Serious warning to small food businesses considering working with Global Food Ventures / GFV.
Based on my experience, I would strongly advise other small business owners to be extremely careful before agreeing to run any GFV ghost kitchen brand.
I agreed to work with GFV after being given sales information that made the opportunity sound profitable. I was told kitchens could make around 27% net profit. In reality, once I started and reviewed the figures properly, I discovered that the payment model was based on GFV’s internal menu/pricing rather than the actual sale prices. This was not properly explained to me during the sales process.
When I calculated the numbers, the reality was shocking. Some items made little to no profit, and in some cases the figures showed a loss. I shared this breakdown with GFV, yet the issue was still not properly resolved.
GFV then told me they had taken the matter internally with their CEO and that they would mimic the Lean Kitchen revenue model if I provided proof such as financial statements. I provided the requested proof, including financial statements, but they still did not honour this properly or resolve the situation.
On top of this, payments were delayed and part of the payment remains outstanding. I chased repeatedly and was told it would be resolved ASAP, but nothing meaningful happened.
This has caused serious financial damage to my business. I am now at the point where my business is at risk of collapse, and this situation with GFV has been a major cause of that pressure. I invested time, stock, labour and resources in good faith, based on what I was told, but the actual arrangement turned out to be completely different from what I was led to expect.
In my opinion, GFV’s conduct has been misleading, unprofessional and extremely damaging to a small business. It felt like a trap: attractive sales claims at the beginning, unclear internal pricing after you start, poor payment handling, and then no real resolution when problems are raised.
I would not recommend GFV to any small food business. Before working with them, demand every single detail in writing: payment calculation, internal menu pricing, actual expected margins, settlement dates, deductions, and what happens if the model is loss-making.
Small businesses cannot afford to be misled like this. Please be careful.
Reply from Global Food Ventures
Thank you for sharing your concerns. We take feedback like this seriously and would like the opportunity to properly investigate the issues you have raised.
Some of the points mentioned in your review, particularly regarding the commercial terms, pricing, payment calculations and communications during the onboarding process, require us to review the specific account and the information that was provided at the time.
We would therefore appreciate it if you could contact us directly with some additional details about your account and the specific issues you experienced. This will allow our team to investigate the matter properly and identify whether any internal alignment or clarification is required.
Our intention is to understand what happened and address any legitimate concerns as thoroughly as possible.