The growth of delivery during the Covid-19 pandemic created an opportunity for the industry to embrace ghost kitchens or commissary kitchens. Their popularity has meant that foodservice jargon has spilled over into everyday life. If you’re wondering what the heck a ghost kitchen is, you’re on the right blog post!
Simply put, a ghost kitchen or commissary kitchen is a dedicated commercial cooking facility where two or more restaurants have delivery orders prepared and cooked. They are essentially restaurants without a dinning space. Other names for ghost kitchens include:
- Cloud kitchen
- Dark kitchen
- Delivery kitchen
- Off-premise kitchen
- Shadow kitchen
- Virtual kitchen
While a standard restaurant would have dine in customers and possibly also offer pick up options, a ghost kitchen focuses entirely on selling and fulfilling online food orders. They usually partner with 3rd party apps like DoorDash or UberEats and lack a storefront. Ghost kitchens have become a popular alternative to full-fledged restaurants because they allow restaurants to cut down their operating costs.