From Ghost Kitchens to Living Kitchens: A New Vision for Food Service’s Next Great Space

Ghost kitchens, you’ve got spirit, but not much soul. Dark kitchens or virtual kitchens––real places staffed with non-ectoplasmic people—bring efficiencies to running a restaurant by providing off-site commissary services for delivery orders. Ghost kitchens have been critical to enabling take-out meals during the current pandemic and are predicted to be central in restaurant operations moving forward. For that reason, they must become more livable.

Why are they effective right now? With dining rooms emptying out, downtown rents increasing, and autonomous delivery right over the horizon, many operators are wondering if that Main Street location is really worth the spend. It might not be. Growth for most, after all, isn’t walking through the front door, it’s coming in online. 

If your cooks are mostly fulfilling off-site orders, you can do away with niceties like a slick front of house, visual merchandising, and a location with hungry walk-ins. Without these…