Does your food delivery come from the “ghost kitchen”?

Even before the restaurant closed its canteen due to a pandemic, the food delivery business was booming.Getting your smartphone out and scrolling has never been easier and more popular Third-party distribution app Like DoorDash and Seamless, and Takeaway order From a wide range of products.

Its wide range of options is important. Some restaurants may have survived without a pre-pandemic delivery service, but now it’s hard to find a business that has been around for the past few years without takeaway. There is no doubt that scrolling through the selected food delivery app will show you all the restaurants in your area. In fact, you may find an impossible number of restaurants — as if you had more delivery options than the physical dining facilities in your neighborhood. You are not crazy.Instead, you probably Ghost kitchen..

Let’s take a closer look at what ghost kitchens are, how to find them, and why you need to worry about them.

What is a ghost kitchen?

The ghost kitchen isn’t as creepy as it sounds (sorry). The ghost kitchen is the physical space for ordering takeaways, and there is no physical dining room for customers to eat. This makes it “invisible” compared to traditional restaurants.

The ghost kitchen existed before the pandemic, but COVID Accelerated their rise. According to CNBCTop brands such as, The Halal Guys, Dog Haus and Wow Bao have been successful with ghost kitchen models. “This allows restaurants to reduce costs and make a profit during a pandemic.” Some examples of ghost kitchen brands you might recognize: Little Italy in Chile and Magiano It lists it as just a wing. Applebee’s as the wings of the neighborhood; Chuck E. Cheese as Pasqually’s Pizza & Wings. (Are someone else suddenly hungry for wings?)

Compared to face-to-face meals, Ghost Kitchen can save you a lot of start-up costs, rental space, and staff. From small independent restaurants to chain stores such as Wendy’s, Applebee’s and Cracker Barrel, everyone turned to the ghost kitchen during the pandemic. Hospitality technology The ghost kitchen industry estimates it is worth $ 71.4 billion by 2027. QSR reports: The kitchen is 50% share In short of the drive-through and takeaway food service markets around the world: Ghost Kitchens don’t go anywhere right away. So what does the growth of Ghost Kitchen mean to you?

Why Ghost Kitchen Is Important To You

Several Ghost kitchen claims to be unethical Misunderstand the customer.others Predict that ghost kitchens threaten sustainability Of the traditional food service business model. Here’s a breakdown of how Ghost Kitchen affects your takeaway experience.

As a consumer, perhaps the main concern about ghost kitchens is Food quality..From a taste point of view, there is nothing to suggest these Outsourced kitchen Especially when ordering from a small brand that is expanding its existing business using the ghost kitchen model, the quality drops sharply.

When it comes to that Health and safetyGhost kitchen Must comply with restaurant regulations.. However, one danger signal is that the customer cannot. access Ghost kitchen health certificate grades that you can do in a traditional restaurant.

Other than your culinary concerns, your concerns are Economic (favorite Trying to save money on takeaway and delivery) When ethical (Like a cough-cough, Third-party service that holds employee tipsCough-cough).To get a more personal perspective on these aspects, I called the owner, David Dietz. BBC Tavern and Grill At Dell’s Green Building.

((((Full Disclosure: Dave Dietz was my father and I grew up Working in a restaurant.. More complete disclosure: I thought I knew what his opinion would be about the ghost kitchen, but I was completely wrong. )

Ghost kitchens are not a replacement for face-to-face meals

Several Think of a piece Compare the threat of ghost kitchens to restaurants and the threats that Amazon delivers directly to retailers. But Dietz sees it differently. “People will always want to sit down and eat at a restaurant.”

In other words, indeed, the Amazon-killing-retail analogy could describe services such as Instacart and grocery shopping. However, eating out is fundamentally different from getting things done or ordering Chinese food. And again, as a former avid movie fan, I understand my concerns.

Still, Dietz said Ghost Kitchen is a way for small restaurants to compete in the market. Expand your business and streamline deliveries when everyone is ordering. Similarly, New York Times Ghost Kitchen points out that it could be an “independent restaurant owner’s lifeline.” At the same time, given the explosive market, the fact of the matter is the ghost franchise brand (MrBeast Burger comes to mind) You can pay for third-party apps and prioritize what you offer, but independent restaurants (like my family) are getting pushed down.

How to find a ghost kitchen

Whatever your concerns when ordering takeaway, you may just want to know exactly where the food comes from. Here are some tips for finding a ghost kitchen:

• Look up the restaurant name. Sounds easy, but put on a detective hat and see if the restaurant has physical locations, photos, reviews, or if it looks like it exists. Like people in dating apps, the lack of online results can mean it’s a ghost.
• Expand the full description of the restaurant in the delivery app. The Ghost Kitchen brand may contain fine print about the parent company (for example, Applebee as Neighborhood Wings).
• Cross-check the address of the restaurant you are considering and the brand’s headquarters. If they list the same address, it’s a ghost kitchen.
• Look at the addresses of some products in your area. If you start to notice an improbable number of restaurants overlapping, it’s a ghost kitchen operation.

With all this information about Ghost Kitchen, I will continue to think that it has been the best guidance for many years. Order directly from the restaurant whenever possible Support them instead of the famous apps.