What is a Ghost Kitchen and How Does it Work?

Ghost kitchens are physical spaces for operators to create food for consumption outside the facility. Learn how they work and how they can help you maximize profits.

What is a Ghost Kitchen and How Does it Work?

Ghost kitchens are food preparation operations without waiters, dining room or parking; in reality, without any public presence. But on food delivery apps, they're alive and well. In short, ghost kitchens are physical spaces for operators to create food for consumption outside the facility. A ghost kitchen, also known as cloud kitchen or dark kitchen, is a cooking operation that prepares dishes only at home.

It does not offer an indoor dining room, self-service, or parking for guests. This makes it impossible for customers to eat and run. Basically, it's a physical space for operators and chefs to create food for deliveries. Ghost kitchens, also known as dark kitchens, are commercial kitchens optimized for food delivery service. Each delivery kitchen is located in areas with a high concentration of delivery demand.

The kitchens themselves don't have storefronts and the staff prepares dishes from their menus, which are only available for home delivery. Think of it as a virtual restaurant that works like a digital store, with some members of the company's staff working on fulfilling online orders. Instead of a physical location, your presence is digital, allowing you to reach more customers than you could have with just a physical location. Ghost kitchens are also known as microcloud kitchens or virtual kitchens. They refer to restaurants that do not offer food services on the premises.

They are designed to fulfill online orders, so their menus are only available to customers who require delivery. Think of it as a co-working space. There are no tables or walk-in customers. Just rent a space, create a menu, and start selling your food to customers online through third-party delivery apps. Many traditional restaurant owners are starting to manage a ghost kitchen to complement their main establishment.

Ghost kitchens can house a brand that only delivers to homes or several separate entities in the same building. We all know that restaurants are an industry with low margins, but ghost kitchens help you maximize those profits by managing your home delivery business more intelligently. This type of ghost kitchen is ideal for adding a new source of income and experimenting with new dishes at the local market. A ghost kitchen is a food preparation facility without waiters, a dining area, or parking for guests. However, as restrictions related to the pandemic have been relaxed, the trend towards ghost kitchens has remained firm. Even before the pandemic, ghost kitchens were opening in response to growing consumer demand for food delivery in restaurants. Every CloudKitchens ghost kitchen comes fully equipped with the proprietary software needed to provide you with better tracking and actionable data.

The ghost kitchen business model helped restaurateurs overcome difficult times caused by the coronavirus pandemic. So what is a ghost kitchen all about? It is a concept that allowed restaurants to prepare food for home delivery when there were gastronomic restrictions. Ghost kitchens owned by a brand register with a single external delivery service and agree to accept orders only through their platform. These kitchens have no windows and are generally narrower than other types of ghost kitchens. The beauty of ghost kitchens is that you're in control of most operational aspects, besides delivery.

Liz Stower
Liz Stower

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