[off reddit]
Ghost kitchen model is here to stay. Covid was a huge disruption to the restaurant industry. Anybody run a ghost kitchen or familiar with that industry?
Ghost Kitchens
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Last: 3 yr ago by Fightin_Aggie
[off reddit]
Ghost kitchen model is here to stay. Covid was a huge disruption to the restaurant industry. Anybody run a ghost kitchen or familiar with that industry?
Had to Google ghost kitchen. Interesting.
Don't forget MrBeast Burger, a virtual restaurant owned by a Youtube star.
In College Station, On The Border serves as the kitchen.
In College Station, On The Border serves as the kitchen.
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Yeah, I forgot all about that Mr Beast Burger. He told the whole story on Rogan. The kid is smart as hell and a real innovator. Mr Beast is a legitimate innovator. I think history will show that.
The only ghost kitchen I acknowledge:
So basically all these places have mediocre food so they rebranded as another restaurant to sell their slop to unsuspecting customers
Melt Down is essentially a burger delivery service. I've never used the others. Makes sense that they would re-brand a delivery service as people don't associate Denny's with burgers.
i thought i saw that uber and doordash are also starting to operate their own ghost kitchens too
They probably are, I think it's a scummy business move but I get it
sharpshot said:
So basically all these places have mediocre food so they rebranded as another restaurant to sell their slop to unsuspecting customers
Could be to keep a kitchen operating during off-peak hours. Denny's, IHOP selling burgers while their main menu is breakfast, etc.
Beast Burger was founded to essentially leverage his huge influence to drive business to struggling restaurants during covid. I'm sure he's making some money, but I know the restaurants keep a big majority of it.
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From what i gather, Covid cause the start of this. Nobody typically goes to places like dennys, ihop, chilis etc… for takeout and since restaurants were closed they needed a way to bring in revenue. It makes sense but I still think it's scummy IMO
How is this scummy?
I am really confused by this take.
I am really confused by this take.
So it was a ghost in the kitchen?!?!?
/W\ Saw 'Em Off! /W\
BTHO tu.
BTHO tu.
I've never heard of any of these restaurants other than Maggianos which has been around for many years. I wouldn't consider that a ghost kitchen and has nothing to do with COVID.
Would remove from the list.
Would remove from the list.
You're basically doing a rebrand but selling the same product under the guise of a new restaurant and product
I find it difficult to get butthurt about a kitchen slanging differently-branded food if there is a market for it, regardless of owner.
My point of contention is with people of questionable decision-making skills who order food delivery that is cold and greasy by the time it arrives.
My point of contention is with people of questionable decision-making skills who order food delivery that is cold and greasy by the time it arrives.
Yeah, that trend died for us pretty quickly. It's actually more expensive on a unit basis for lower quality.David Happymountain said:
I find it difficult to get butthurt about a kitchen slanging differently-branded food if there is a market for it, regardless of owner.
My point of contention is with people of questionable decision-making skills who order food delivery that is cold and greasy by the time it arrives.
Makes no sense unless you just absolutely don't want to get out and have nothing in the house to eat.
Mom and pops got slaughtered during covid.
10-years from now Yum brands is going to own the entire market. Then they whittle it down to just Taco Bell like inJudge Dredd Demolition Man
10-years from now Yum brands is going to own the entire market. Then they whittle it down to just Taco Bell like in
Idiocracy was prophetic.Stat Monitor Repairman said:
Mom and pops got slaughtered during covid.
10-years from now Yum brands is going to own the entire market. Then they whittle it down to just Taco Bell like in Judge Dredd.
And then some Democrats will whine about corporate gentrification and the death of local businesses all the while inadvertently killing the very things they supposedly love.Stat Monitor Repairman said:
Mom and pops got slaughtered during covid.
10-years from now Yum brands is going to own the entire market. Then they whittle it down to just Taco Bell like in Judge Dredd.
Since when do liberals support big business?
Corporations have become the defacto arm of government enforcement in many cases. COVID was the coming out party for that realization. You literally had corporate executives early on in COVID lamenting and scheming how to get around privacy laws to be able to track employees and force reporting of health information.sharpshot said:
Since when do liberals support big business?
Also, any big corporation is likely based in a large urban area which then means half if not most of your employees are probably Democrats. Thus, your internal politics and policies get influenced by that and you end up where we are in 2022 with rampant and racist DEI movements and a host of other left wing activities.
Thus, while Democrats were historically anti-big business and may still claim that they are; they have successfully infiltrated and corrupted most big companies over the years turning them into Democrat strongholds where they wield all the power, culturally.
True
we were in SA and my kid wanted a Mr Beast Burger, left it to him to tell me where to find one. Drove somewhere off I-35 north of 410 loop into some warehouse area and there was a trailer there. Walked up and wanted to get two burgers. Told us we had to order online. Told us the link and went there, and the site was ridiculously confusing and didn't show the trailer as a location. When I asked if I could just tell them what we wanted they said no. After about 5 mins of discussion they finally said - what do you want, we'll just make it. Then their POS went down and they didn't take cash. After about 20 mins of trying to just order a burger and give them money we gave up.
I watched an episode of "Restaurant Impossible" recently where an owner was running several online delivery "restaurants" out of his brick-and-mortar restaurant.
He thought he was being brilliant, offering multiple local brands out of one shop. But Chef Robert Irvine got him to sit down and calculate his actual costs after paying for packaging and delivery. Turns out he was losing money on every single one of his online restaurants, and it was hurting his ability to serve the customers he had in-house.
But I'm guessing companies like YUM and others can do it better.
He thought he was being brilliant, offering multiple local brands out of one shop. But Chef Robert Irvine got him to sit down and calculate his actual costs after paying for packaging and delivery. Turns out he was losing money on every single one of his online restaurants, and it was hurting his ability to serve the customers he had in-house.
But I'm guessing companies like YUM and others can do it better.
well, Demolition Man butStat Monitor Repairman said:
Mom and pops got slaughtered during covid.
10-years from now Yum brands is going to own the entire market. Then they whittle it down to just Taco Bell like in Judge Dredd.
CapCity12thMan said:
we were in SA and my kid wanted a Mr Beast Burger, left it to him to tell me where to find one. Drove somewhere off I-35 north of 410 loop into some warehouse area and there was a trailer there. Walked up and wanted to get two burgers. Told us we had to order online. Told us the link and went there, and the site was ridiculously confusing and didn't show the trailer as a location. When I asked if I could just tell them what we wanted they said no. After about 5 mins of discussion they finally said - what do you want, we'll just make it. Then their POS went down and they didn't take cash. After about 20 mins of trying to just order a burger and give them money we gave up.
There is a "digital kitchen" here in Columbus Ohio that is in a warehouse and serves multiple different restaurants, but it is all purely online. You cannot order at the physical location - you have to order through Grubhub. The set-up is that the kitchen makes all of the food using ingredients/recipes of these various restaurants and then Grubhub delivers. It's almost like a little factory line where the driver pulls up, picks up the order than their app then tells them where to deliver said order. I went once to see it and there is a line of 4-5 drivers waiting for their pick-up to deliver. You would never know on the outside what it was or that it was a kitchen. The food is all cooked together even though it is under different brand names.
One of the "restaurants" serving out of there is Torchy's Tacos. It was Columbus' first Torchy's that you could only order online through Grubhub. With the success they had using the digital kitchen, Torchy's just opened their first physical location here a couple weeks ago. Its a pretty interesting idea that allows for different restaurants to test the demand of a new market without an actual physical location.
YouBet said:
I've never heard of any of these restaurants other than Maggianos which has been around for many years. I wouldn't consider that a ghost kitchen and has nothing to do with COVID.
Would remove from the list.
Maggianos is a Brinker brand just like Chili's, so they probably decided to offer up that brand name as a ghost kitchen for the places that can't support a full Maggianos.
You aren't the only one. Now that delivery services are having to actually make money rather than rely on VC funding, they are struggling: From today's WSJ:David Happymountain said:
My point of contention is with people of questionable decision-making skills who order food delivery that is cold and greasy by the time it arrives.
With their shares tumbling and expansion cooling, DoorDash Inc. DASH 4.65% and Uber Eats have been offering new ads and deals to attract customers, tweaking their apps to trigger more spending and moving beyond food to give people more reasons to return. They are also trying to keep restaurants from ratcheting up delivery prices while offering them new services.
And all of those places just serve up reheated Sysco
There is something kind of similar in brewing, 'contract brewery', denver has one, Sleeping Giant. They don't make their own beer, they simply brew the beers of many local breweries that need more capacity, as well as provide packaging, lab/testing, distribution, etc.
back on topic, just looking at the very first brand in the OP, Melt down. Go to the website... the fact they have a fully detailed nutritional chart and a privacy policy is a clue it's owned by big business (plus at the bottom.. copyright DFO, LLC, which is simple google shows is Denny's.)
And you don't even have to look that hard.. click 'about us', and they are pretty open 'brought to you by Dennys'.
So I don't know if they are trying to be sneaky about it. That particular one anyway.
Not like Budweiser giving no clues at all about which 'craft' brands they've purchased and put on tap handles across america.
Go on down the line to 'cosmic wings'. If you go to place an order, you put in your address and then it tells you where it's being delivered from.. google it, and, well, it's an applebees. But again, the nutritional facts and privacy policy is a clear giveaway it's a large company.
Also, before you did all that investigating, notice on the front page of cosmic wings website, they have 'Cheetos flaming hot' wings.. no local independent would advertise a copyright like that. It is clearly a large company who has partnered with FritoLay.
All in all to say, I don't know that this is necessarily scummy.
And you don't even have to look that hard.. click 'about us', and they are pretty open 'brought to you by Dennys'.
So I don't know if they are trying to be sneaky about it. That particular one anyway.
Not like Budweiser giving no clues at all about which 'craft' brands they've purchased and put on tap handles across america.
Go on down the line to 'cosmic wings'. If you go to place an order, you put in your address and then it tells you where it's being delivered from.. google it, and, well, it's an applebees. But again, the nutritional facts and privacy policy is a clear giveaway it's a large company.
Also, before you did all that investigating, notice on the front page of cosmic wings website, they have 'Cheetos flaming hot' wings.. no local independent would advertise a copyright like that. It is clearly a large company who has partnered with FritoLay.
All in all to say, I don't know that this is necessarily scummy.
it's just a marketing move.
The whole idea is that you find these places on Uber Eats/Grubhub and think it's some new spot you hadn't heard about. If their marketing data shows that the typical "food delivery customer" might not have an affinity for Denny's (for example) but loves to try new places. Wala!
They don't expect many people to do full recon on these spots.
The whole idea is that you find these places on Uber Eats/Grubhub and think it's some new spot you hadn't heard about. If their marketing data shows that the typical "food delivery customer" might not have an affinity for Denny's (for example) but loves to try new places. Wala!
They don't expect many people to do full recon on these spots.
Americans are so fat and lazy that we will order delivery fast food rather than going to pick up the slop ourselves. And the young adult generation is driving it to us in hoopties their parents bought for them back in high school. Can't be sustainable...
sharpshot said:
From what i gather, Covid cause the start of this. Nobody typically goes to places like dennys, ihop, chilis etc… for takeout and since restaurants were closed they needed a way to bring in revenue. It makes sense but I still think it's scummy IMO
Not exactly. Ghost kitchens can also be virtual restaurants that only deliver, with no dine-in or carry-out option. Restaurants like IHOP and Chili's that were closed but still doing delivery and take-out could just use their normal kitchens. Ghost kitchens are more for having overflow capacity for delivery, but also side brands and menus to take advantage of the bandwidth offered by a kitchen that isn't operating at full capacity. A ghost kitchen could operate as multiple restaurants under the same owner that wouldn't have enough business on their own to cover kitchen costs (ie Chinese, burgers, and Mexican in the same kitchen but with 3 different websites and menus to order from). Individually these restaurants might not make it because of cost of financing equipment and space not being covered by the number of intersex customers, but when they split those costs with a host kitchen they are profitable. Alternatively, multiple independently owned restaurants might operate out of the same facility that they rent at a low rate because it is shared and doesn't have branding/seating.
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