Ghost Kitchens

Why?

Kitchens used to be a place in the home where the matriarch cooked meals for her family. Centuries ago, as people started leaving the home for long periods of time, kitchens began to appear outside of the home as a place where people at meals communally until they had completed their work for the day or long journeys and returned home.

During the period of Classical Antiquity (8th century BC - 6th century AD), the first known kitchen outside the home - called a thermopolia - served food to customers in bowls that were carved into the counter. It's unclear why thermopolias came into being, but it showcased the first instance of social dining.

During the Middle Ages (5th-15th century) and Renaissance (15th-16th century), as people started traveling for several days at a time - to sell their goods at distant markets, for instance - we saw the emergence of the roadside inn in Europe. These inns were usually located in the countryside and offered both food and shelter. However, travelers were not able to choose what they ate. They had to eat the one dish that the chef decided to make for the day. Though the food was always common or simple food, it was different in every countries: often small dishes called "tapas" in Spain, sausage and shepherd’s pie in England, and stews in France. After Columbus landed in America, and trade increased, the types food served began to vary and included delicacies like chocolate.

In China, between the 10th and 13th century, restaurants started to pop up and allowed customers to order dishes they wanted. In cities, in order to serve people who didn't have the space or means to cook, vendors with small carts sold the earliest versions of "fast food."

The first appearance of the word "restaurant" was in 18th century France in reference to a popular meat broth and in honor of a man named Boulanger. Before Boulanger came around, you needed to be part of a particular guild in order to serve certain types of food. For example, only members of the charcutier guild could legally sell cooked meats. In 1765, Boulanger added lamb to one of this stews. The caterer’s guild sued him, but Boulanger won the case and soon more and more restaurants began to open until they exploded during the French Revolution and industrialization.

In the modern era, with restaurants seeing a surge in take-out orders and the success of food delivery services like DoorDash, Grubhub, and Uber Eats, ghost kitchens have become an increasingly attractive model of a "kitchen" or "restaurant." Founders of ghost kitchens often take over underutilized and devalued real-estate - such as suburban malls in the US - and turn them into professional kitchens. Teams of talented chefs and real estate property managers can breathe new life into these run-down properties to deliver high quality food without having to spend a lot of money on brick and mortar restaurants.

How?

The restaurant business is one of the hardest to be in, which high operating expenses and slim margins. The financial model below from a restauranteur shows how complex operating expenses can be and how they vary based on month, day, and time of day.

Restaurant Proforma

Ghost kitchens are an attractive proposition because they make a lot of financial sense. Firstly, they occupy cheaper real estate than most restaurants - they're often not located in expensive, heavily trafficked areas and they often take advantage of devalued real estate. The quote below with data from Kitchen United shows how much cheaper set up costs can be. Second, ghost kitchens don't have a dining area so they don't need to pay for square footage for a dining area, waitstaff, amenities, and other expenses. If they are a pick-up only kitchen, they don't need to pay a cut to delivery services.

Variance in Cost

Many of the first ghost kitchen companies were started by food delivery companies that have seen the rise in demand of delivery food and have the infrastructure to actually deliver the food produced in these kitchens. Ghost kitchens have started popping up all over the world - from the San Francisco to Paris to Dubai, as you can explore on the map below.

Who?

This map shows just a few of the major ghost kitchen companies around the world and where they are headquartered. By clicking on the pins, you can go to their webpage to learn more about the company.

What now?