Ghost kitchens could be the new normal

The Spoon
16/10/2019

“To-go or not to-go.” That used to be the question. Then food delivery became commonplace, and with 60 percent of restaurant orders now off-premises, it’s pretty much mandatory for restaurants who want to stay competitive.

Now the big question is whether ghost kitchens will soon become mandatory, too. It certainly seems likely, particularly in light of news this week that DoorDash has launched its own ghost kitchen in Redwood City, CA.

The facility, dubbed DoorDash Kitchens, provides kitchen space and equipment to multiple restaurants needing to fulfill off-premises orders. As I wrote this week, it’s a way for restaurants to both accommodate the increase in off-premises orders and extend their geographic reach into areas where they might not have a brick-and-mortar location.

DoorDash’s own geographic reach is massive right now. The service is in all 50 states and also expanding outside of North America, and currently leads the market in terms of consumer spend for third-party delivery services. So even though the Redwood City facility is one single location (for now), its launch will have significant influence over the restaurant space.

DoorDash isn’t the first delivery service to try its hand at virtual restaurants, though. Uber Eats has been working with the concept for some time. Grubhub, meanwhile, is using ghost kitchen facilities to not just dish up to-go orders but also test out new restaurant concepts, for which the service is partnering with non-restaurant food brands like Bon Appétit and Whole30.

And those are just the third-party delivery aggregators. Kitchen United is rapidly expanding its version of the ghost kitchen, Starbucks is piloting them in Asia, and individual restaurant chains are even transforming existing brick-and-mortar stores into facilities for off-premises orders. Then there is Zume, which is blending the food truck and ghost kitchen concepts together to create what my colleague Chris Albrecht calls “an entirely new category of restaurant.” To ghost kitchen or not to ghost kitchen? Pretty soon it will no longer be a question.