A dark kitchen, also known as a virtual, remote, police station kitchen, ghost kitchen, or cloud kitchen, is a professional commercial kitchen that only produces food for sale on delivery platforms. Unlike a traditional restaurant, dark kitchens don't have a dining area or a pickup point for customers. They contain the facilities needed to prepare food, but they don't have a storefront, delivery counter, or even a sign. The dark kitchen business model allows for the creation and transition of a brand concept to target specific demographics. Setting up a dark kitchen doesn't require expensive furniture, space or market research on where to set up the kitchen or how many people you can serve per night.
The possibility of offering several kitchens from the same kitchen space is one of the main attractions of a dark kitchen. Aggregator channels for food delivery applications also use dark kitchen models to provide empty kitchen space for companies to rent. Virtual restaurants (also known as ghost kitchens or dark kitchens) are food service businesses that serve customers exclusively through delivery and collection through orders over the phone and online. Dark kitchens usually optimize their menu for delivering food to the home (how the food gets to its destination) and is easy to produce. However, some dark kitchens prefer to focus on high-quality food in the style of a Michelin star, although more expensive, depending on location and demand. The name “dark kitchens” comes from the fact that compared to the usual takeaway format, orders are placed online without the option for the public to enter the facility. Workspaces are often windowless, which together with the fact that consumers are often unaware that their food was made there has given rise to this name.
