Does Your Food Delivery Come From a “ghost Kitchen”?
Even before the pandemic forced restaurants to close their canteens, the food delivery business was booming. It has never been so easy and popular to take out your phone, browse third-party delivery apps like DoorDash or Seamless, and order takeaway food from a wide range of offerings.
This wide range of options is key. Some restaurants may have survived without delivery services before the pandemic, but now you’d be hard-pressed to find a business that’s survived the last few years without takeout. When you browse the food delivery app of your choice, you can surely see every restaurant in your area. In fact, you may notice an incredible number of restaurants – as if there are more delivery options than there are physical places to dine in your area. You are not crazy. Instead, you’re probably catching on to the growing trend of ghost kitchens .
Let’s dive into what ghost kitchens are, how to spot them, and why you should care.
What are ghost kitchens?
Ghost kitchens are not as scary as they seem (bummer). Ghost kitchens are physical places to order takeaway, with no brick-and-mortar dining room for customers to eat. This makes them “invisible” compared to traditional restaurants.
While ghost kitchens existed before the pandemic, COVID has accelerated their growth. Leading brands such as The Halal Guys, Dog Haus and Wow Bao have had success with the ghost kitchen model, according to CNBC : “It allows restaurants to cut costs and turn a profit during the global pandemic.” Some examples of ghost kitchen brands you might recognize: Chili’s and Maggiano’s Little Italy are listed as It’s Just Wings; Applebee’s as Neighborhood Wings Chuck E. Cheese as Pasqually’s Pizza & Wings. (Anyone else suddenly want wings?)
Compared to in-person dining, ghost kitchens offer significant savings in start-up costs, space rental, and staffing. Everything from small independent restaurants to chains like Wendy’s, Applebee’s and Cracker Barrel have turned to ghost kitchens during the pandemic. Hospitality Technology predicts that the ghost kitchen industry will be worth $71.4 billion by 2027. QSR reports that QSR predicts that kitchens will account for 50% of the foodservice market worldwide. In short: ghost kitchens aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. So what does the rise of ghost kitchens mean to you?
Why ghost kitchens matter to you
Some argue that ghost kitchens are unethical and mislead customers. Others predict that ghost kitchens threaten the sustainability of traditional catering business models. Here’s a breakdown of how ghost kitchens can affect your takeaway experience.
As a consumer, the main problem with ghost kitchens is probably food quality . In terms of taste, there is nothing to indicate that the quality of these outsourced kitchens has gone downhill, especially if you are ordering from a smaller brand that is using the ghost kitchen model to expand their existing operations.
When it comes to health and safety , ghost kitchens must follow restaurant rules . However, one red flag is that customers can’t access letter health inspection ratings for ghost cuisines like traditional restaurants.
Apart from your culinary concerns, your concerns are economic (e.g. trying to save money on takeout and delivery ) and ethical (e.g. porridge, third- party services that tip their employees , porridge). To get a more personal insight into these fronts, I called David Dietz, owner of the BBC Tavern and Grill in Greenville, Delaware.
(Full disclosure: Dave Dietz is my father and I grew up working in a restaurant . Full disclosure: I thought I knew his opinion about ghost kitchens, but I was completely wrong.)
Ghost kitchens are not a substitute for a personal meal.
Some analyst articles compare the threat of ghost kitchens to restaurants, and Amazon delivery to retail shopping. However, Dietz sees it differently: “People always want to sit down and eat in a restaurant.”
In other words, of course, Amazon’s retail analogy could apply to services like Instacart and grocery shopping. However, going out to eat is a completely different experience compared to running errands or having to stay home and order Chinese food. Again, as a former avid moviegoer, I understand the concern.
However, Dietz says ghost kitchens are a way for smaller restaurants to compete in the marketplace, allowing them to expand operations and optimize delivery while everyone is ordering. Similarly, The New York Times notes that ghost kitchens can be “a lifeline for the independent restaurateur”. At the same time, given the booming market, the fact is that ghost brands ( MrBeast Burger comes to mind ) can pay third-party apps to prioritize their offerings, while independent restaurants (like my family ) get sank further and further.
How to recognize a ghost kitchen
Whatever concerns you about ordering takeout, you may just want to know exactly where your food comes from. Here are some tips for spotting a ghost kitchen:
- Find the name of the restaurant. Sounds simple, but put on your detective hat and see if the restaurant has a physical location, photos, reviews, or even appears to exist. As with people on dating apps, a lack of online results could mean it’s a ghost.
- Expand the full description of the restaurant in the delivery application; ghost kitchen branding may include their parent company information in fine print (e.g. Applebee’s as Neighborhood Wings).
- Double check the address of the restaurant you are considering and the brand headquarters. If they list the same address, it’s a ghost kitchen.
- Look at the addresses of several offers in your area. If you’re starting to notice that there are an incredible number of restaurants stacked on top of each other, this is the work of a ghost kitchen.
With all this information about ghost kitchens, I’m going to keep doing what I think has been the best guide for years: try to order direct from restaurants whenever possible in order to support them and not established apps.