The Ghost Kitchen Concept
What is a Ghost Kitchen?
A ghost kitchen is a professional food preparation and cooking facility or restaurant set up for the preparation of delivery-only meals. A ghost restaurant doesn’t have a traditional storefront with decor, signage, and a large dining room. Instead, this business model only requires a kitchen and delivery services.The owners do this while partnering with delivery aggregators or in some cases their own delivery services to deliver food to customers. The ghost kitchen concept is becoming a major play in the restaurant industry as a response to the shift in consumer behaviour. Most restaurateurs invest in a ghost kitchen to hop on the hot trend of food delivery that is taking over the restaurant industry.
In the South African context, dark kitchens have existed around 2012. The covid pandemic, lockdown restrictions on social gatherings and liquor sales, coupled with rising rents and shrinking margins that hit the hospitality industry hard, has however accelerated the growth.
How Does It Work?
Ghost kitchens are designed to solve the issues restaurants are having a challenge with. Since ghost kitchens are a departure from the traditional brick and mortar restaurant concept, operating a ghost kitchen can help restaurateurs diversify curbside and takeout options while staying open and serving guests.
If you are a small restaurant or a business owner and you want to stay in business and also grow your restaurant, then the ghost kitchen concept is a worthy option to consider. This concept may also be an more economic If you are a small restaurant that has been around for some time and you are thinking about opening more locations but don’t want to risk spending money on the expensive build-out process, you can be part of an already existing ghost kitchen and incorporate your concept in their kitchen space to save on costs while optimizing revenue.
