Shedding some light on dark kitchens
Dark kitchens are commercial kitchens where multiple food types are produced for the delivery market using different brands but all coming from the same physical kitchen or group of kitchen units. They are not usually customer facing and can be in less salubrious locations, like under a bridge or on an industrial estate. They earned a mostly undeserved bad reputation when they started appearing in the US and Europe, folk were most suspicious! But hey, it makes sense from a delivery perspective, to roll several brands out of one kitchen, I think it was just the name that freaked everyone out (that and the barbed wire fences and security guards).
So what’s in a name? We have gone from dark kitchens to ghost kitchens (also not great) to virtual kitchens and I think we’ve settled on cloud kitchens and I like that one, it's kinda fluffy and non threatening as well as illustrative of how it works.
Some of the big delivery players also operate cloud kitchens, this is not an ideal situation for competition as obviously they have the delivery side wrapped up, they have the customer data and if they want to open a chicken shop brand they can do so, directing all the business to their own brand and strangling the local independent. This isn’t common but it's easy to see why some are uncomfortable with the potential situation.
During Covid, food delivery went crazy, Just Eat, Deliveroo and Uber couldn’t believe their luck! The delivery revolution took place and having your chips delivered became acceptable, the norm.
Ghost kitchens don’t have to be remote and they don't have to be on an industrial estate, they don't even have to be “dark”. What if you have an Italian restaurant and you do really well in the evenings but you are closed for breakfast and lunch is never great? You have a lot of time where you are paying to be in business but without any business, maybe you can offer a breakfast brand to the delivery market (breakfast is the biggest growing growth sector in delivery), maybe try a salad delivery brand or vegan delivery brand just for the lunchtime hours to boost turnover, BOOM! you’ve got a hybrid kitchen! As delivery is all online you can try it pretty much risk free! If your chosen brand doesn't work, you can relatively easily change the brand, or change the menu, or adjust the prices, you can swap it all around daily until you hit the right notes.
Whether you are planning a purely cloud kitchen or a hybrid kitchen by adding brands to compliment your existing offering you need to look at the serviceable area, the competition, local demographics and run the numbers.
Cloud kitchens can be relatively low cost to operate and can be very profitable if you have the right brands for your audience and can successfully market your product to them. Cloud kitchens are also a great testbeds to prove a concept or a new menu as you can make changes so easily and cheaply and even AB test dishes, descriptions and prices.
When looking at what food types might appeal to your potential customers, brands are mighty important. The work of branding a food business, devising a menu and costing it all out can be time consuming and expensive, there are ways around that using aggregators that are companies that own existing tried and tested food brands and have agreements with the delivery platforms, each aggregator has its own rules but essentially a restauranteur agrees to take certain brands from an aggregator to run alongside its own brand or brands, you pay a small extra charge for the convenience but it means you can jump in quick and be operating a completely different brand alongside your existing business in weeks!
Delivery is here to stay, if you are running a restaurant, you are most likely already operating a delivery system, either with your own drivers or with one of the delivery platforms. Sure there are certain cuisines and locations where delivery just isn’t the answer but on the whole, if you sell food you are delivering food.
My role is working with small to medium hospitality companies to grow and develop their businesses in the real world and the metaverse. If you want to touch base and have a chat please reach out and we will set up a free no obligation initial call on +44 7393 731707. John Curtis Multiverse Hospitality Ltd.
