What is the Difference Between Cloud Kitchen and Central Kitchen?

Learn about the difference between cloud kitchen & central kitchen: what sets them apart from other kitchen rental options & how they operate.

What is the Difference Between Cloud Kitchen and Central Kitchen?

Delivery kitchens and cloud kitchens are essentially the same thing, the only difference being the number of brands that prepare food in the same kitchen. A ghost kitchen has a centralized kitchen, but it is spread out across a region to reach more customers. These kitchens do not have a physical presence where people can come and enjoy the atmosphere, instead they place orders through an online platform, either on a website or a delivery platform. Customers can choose to pick up their order or have it delivered to their doorstep. Cloud Kitchens has become synonymous with renting ghost kitchens.

What sets a ghost kitchen in Chicago apart from other kitchen rental options on the market, particularly Amped kitchens? Ghost kitchens are restaurants that exist solely on online delivery apps, but do not have a physical location. Unlike most ghost kitchens, Amped Kitchens does not charge any percentage of order-based rates, so tenants can grow their business without worrying about their rent increasing (unless they choose to move to a larger space). Virtual Kitchen Co., which already operates several home-delivery-only kitchens in San Francisco, plans to open a dozen more in the Bay Area in the next six months. Cloud kitchens can range from adding a brand that only offers home delivery to an existing restaurant to managing a specially designed police kitchen that houses several brands. Amped Kitchens provides world-class kitchen production space, industry-leading services and a professional staff that manages logistics and freight.

They focus on flexibility, scalability and helping tenants create a successful food business. By optimizing their processes specifically for delivery, ghost kitchens can operate very efficiently. Kitchen United is another big name in the world of cloud cooking, backed by Google and experienced founders. Cloud Kitchens in Chicago offers 150 to 300 square foot kitchens to restaurants and others looking to expand their delivery options. Amped Kitchens is proud to enter the Chicago market and offers a flexible and unique kitchen space that is easily adapted to the business purposes of most food companies. Whether you're thinking of opening a virtual restaurant or opening a kitchen in a grocery store, there are steps you can take to get started.

There are also lots of industry resources and free ads on The Kitchen Door to connect food companies with commercial kitchen spaces for rent. Advances in kitchen automation, drone delivery and the continuous growth of the sharing economy seek to give cloud kitchens an even greater advantage by further reducing their costs. The cost structure for ghost kitchen tenants generally includes a percentage fee based on the dollar amount of each order they receive. What makes delivery kitchens different is that Cloud Kitchen has numerous brands that operate at the same point of sale. The goal is for ghost kitchen operations to maximize profits while minimizing physical expenses.

Liz Stower
Liz Stower

Amateur zombie fanatic. Award-winning coffee ninja. Unapologetic food nerd. Wannabe tv lover. Wannabe zombie fan.