Ghost Kitchens: Changing the Landscape of the Restaurant Industry
Ghost Kitchens: Changing the Landscape of the Restaurant Industry The restaurant industry has been especially hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Practically overnight, restaurateurs had to shift to online ordering and curbside pickup or delivery to stay afloat. Businesses without the infrastructure to pivot quickly struggled. But for brands utilizing a ghost kitchen model, the “new normal” was simply business as usual. With their already-established online identities and distribution capabilities, ghost kitchens – commercial kitchens that prepare restaurant-quality meals exclusively for delivery or pickup – were uniquely positioned to seamlessly continue operations. According to restaurant management company Upserve, from February-April 2020, restaurants saw an 840 percent increase in weekly online ordering sales. Over the same period, restaurants in large suburbs experienced an incredible 3868 percent growth in online ordering. Part of a trend that actually started well before the