Theoretically, they do not need to be located in busy retail areas like sit-in restaurants because their menu listings are online and they only offer delivery options. Ghost kitchens are small because they lack dine-in space and also don’t need tables, chairs, waiters, or other operating costs. This collaborative concept came with the number one survival instinct that restaurants undertook during the pandemic: cutting costs. Other ghost kitchens are nested within existing restaurants and operate with a completely different menu and name from its host. Some ghost kitchens are located in block-long warehouses with over 20 separate kitchen spaces, like the one owned by CloudKitchens in the Pico-Union neighborhood of Los Angeles. Ghost kitchens are not designed to be seen or to dine in, and multiple restaurants can rent the same ghost kitchen, hence saving rent space money and additional labor costs. If the kitchen does not have its own delivery service, it relies on third party delivery service apps like UberEats or Grubhub to transport the food to the customer.
![ghost kitchen ghost kitchen](https://www.slingshot.com/hubfs/Zuul_Ghost_Kitchen.jpg)
All a ghost kitchen does is receive the order and cook the food. There are many forms of ghost kitchens, but the barebone structure is that it is a meal preparation facility – and that’s it. Coupled with the rising demand for online food ordering and delivery services, the ghost kitchen optimized itself by getting rid of dining spaces and focusing only on supplying online orders: the sole source of profit for many restaurants during the pandemic. Amidst the uncertainty rose a business model designed to cut costs for survival during these difficult times: the ghost kitchen.
![ghost kitchen ghost kitchen](https://info.restaurantspacesevent.com/hubfs/Pasadena%20Kitchen%20center.jpg)
The aftermath of the pandemic revealed a restaurant industry struggling to endure the devastating blows of in-house dining restrictions, supply chain shortages, and permanent closures. However, they come with some deceptive consequences. Ghost kitchens could be the business model that revives many of the restaurants who have suffered from dining restrictions during the pandemic. Author: Felicia Mo, Graphics: Bella Aharonian The BRB Bottomline