As the food industry continues to evolve, ghost kitchens have become an increasingly popular option for restaurants looking to reduce costs and improve the quality of food preparation. Ghost kitchens are food preparation spaces that restaurant owners can use to have cooks prepare food for delivery services such as GrubHub and UberEATS. By using ghost kitchens, restaurant owners don't need to worry about lighting, heating and cooling an entire dining area, which can help them save money and reduce their environmental footprint. In order to maximize the benefits of ghost kitchens, restaurant owners should focus on reducing food waste and improving sustainability initiatives.
The first step is to determine where food waste comes from and how much there is, in order to find solutions. Computer tracking or a simple sheet of paper can be used to keep track of both kitchen waste and dish waste. Evaluating what and how much is being discarded can help restaurant owners make informed decisions about what needs to be changed. Using sustainable supplies such as paper and cardboard instead of plastic is also a great way to reduce waste and improve sustainability initiatives.
Not only are these materials biodegradable and recyclable, but they can also be used to create aesthetically pleasing packaging that will make your business stand out. Sushi Dept, a ghost kitchen in Montreal, drew attention for its fuchsia-colored recyclable takeaway boxes. Data can also provide invaluable information to any customer-facing industry, including ghost kitchens. Examining customer order data can inform restaurants about where their private kitchens can fill a hyperlocal gap and where they might prefer to offer their products through a ghost kitchen rather than a physical store.
Data on brand preferences, pricing strategy, ingredients and the popularity of types of cuisine in certain regions can serve as the basis for everything from the design of menus to the marketing strategy for food brands that only offer food delivery. It's no secret that the growing demand for food delivery online also means that there are more containers being thrown away. As the industry matures, more ghost kitchen operators will be held accountable for their packaging. At JustKitchen, they use 100 percent recyclable or compostable packaging and paper straws instead of plastic straws.
In the future, we will hopefully see more ghost kitchen operators take the initiative to replace single-use plastics with more environmentally friendly materials. As cooking technologies become more automated, cookers and everything from cooking to packaging and delivery will become more agile and less expensive. If restaurants design menus and preparation methods that are highly efficient, they will need less space, less equipment and perhaps even less staff to operate. Modular kitchens can be installed in spaces as small as a shipping container, can be installed almost anywhere and can still produce excellent quality products. Ghost kitchens are popping up all over the United States, and their numbers are expected to increase in the coming years. By taking steps to reduce food waste and improve sustainability initiatives, restaurant owners can maximize the benefits of these new configurations.
