Two-location dark kitchen / Direct ordering + content operations
TESTO & TIGR
The video worked. Four days later, the kitchen was breaking.
Demand generation has a fulfillment ceiling
February–November 2024 · Project-owner operating record
01 / The assignment
Project facts
- Engagement
- February–November 2024
- Retainer
- ~$1,050 / month
- Workload
- 9–11 hours / week
- Locations
- Two kitchens
- Channels
- TikTok, Reels, Telegram bot, website, aggregator listings
Starting point & challenge
The kitchens processed 410 orders per month, with 86% through aggregators charging approximately 30% commission. That implied about 353 aggregator orders and only 57 direct orders.
The business needed more customer-owned demand, not merely more orders routed through platforms.
02 / Responsibility
Owned, delegated, client-side
Project work
Content, direct-order infrastructure and aggregator-listing optimization. Individual delegated delivery roles were not supplied.
Artem · chef
Recurring on-camera operator explaining food, delivery costs and kitchen realities.
Kitchen operations
Capacity checks, preparation buffers and daily promo-code limits became part of release planning.
Shamil · Co-owner
Client-side perspective supplied in the project quote.
03 / Work log
How the work unfolded
February 2024 onward
Make the kitchen operator the recurring voice
Chef Artem fronted formats analyzing competitor orders, explaining delivery costs, showing overnight operations and food preparation. Six videos exceeded 500K views; the strongest reached approximately 1.2M.
A Telegram bot supported direct ordering. Direct prices were about 10% below aggregator listings, while free-delivery thresholds, bundles and higher-value combinations helped protect order value.
Viral release · following four days
A growth spike became an operational failure
The approximately 1.2M-view video had a promo code pinned in the comments. Over the next four days, the record reports 310 additional orders. Preparation exceeded 90 minutes, 41 refunds followed, and the aggregator rating temporarily fell from 4.7 to 4.3.
Future promotional releases required capacity confirmation. Promo codes received daily redemption caps and kitchens added preparation buffers. The rule constrained promotions; it did not assume organic virality could be controlled.
During the engagement · distribution
Improve the marketplaces without giving them all the credit
Aggregator work included photography, menu structure, promotional timing and merchandising. Those changes could improve marketplace performance independently of social content.
A $620 TikTok Ads experiment generated zero tracked direct orders and was stopped. Organic content and direct-order infrastructure remained.
By November 2024
Own a larger share of the order flow
Total monthly orders reached approximately 1,230, with 61% through aggregators. That implies around 750 aggregator and 480 direct orders. Direct average order value was $21.40 versus $18.90 on aggregators.
Direct monthly orders grew approximately 8.4 times. The structural result was an ordering channel the business controlled, not proof that all total-order growth came from social media.
04 / Operating infrastructure
What made the work repeatable
Direct ordering
Telegram bot, website attribution, channel-specific codes and persistent customer-owned ordering paths.
Order-value safeguards
Free-delivery thresholds, bundles and higher-value combinations alongside direct discounts.
Capacity gate
Pre-release capacity checks, daily code limits and additional preparation buffers.
Separate marketplace reporting
Listing optimization and aggregator demand reported independently of content attribution.
05 / The difficult part
Failures, constraints & corrections
Virality exceeded kitchen capacity
A four-day surge led to 90-minute-plus preparation times, 41 refunds and a temporary rating drop. Capacity became a marketing release constraint.
Paid TikTok produced no tracked direct orders
$620 spent, zero tracked direct orders. The campaign was stopped rather than assigning untracked orders to it.
06 / Reported outcomes
Before & after
Total monthly orders
410
~1,230
Aggregator share
86%
61%
Direct monthly orders
~57
~480
Direct average order value
Not supplied
$21.40
Aggregator average order value
Not supplied
$18.90
“Every percentage point we moved away from the aggregators was real money. We stopped paying a commission to access our own customers.”
From this record to your scope
What would fit your business?
This historical engagement had its own team, budget and scope. Paid acquisition, CRM projects and technical SEO described in these records are not automatically included in today’s monthly publishing package. Past outcomes are not a forecast.
Explore managed social media operations · See the $399 monthly scope and exclusions · Review the material, approval and publishing process