How Ghost Kitchens And Business Innovations Are Aiding The Industry

In much the same way that a ghost tour can bring tourism dollars back to a destination that is suffering from a decrease in travelers, so, too, ghost kitchens can bring tourism dollars back to major cities suffering from the pandemic’s wrath upon the travel industry.

The concept of the ghost kitchen is simple. A cooking and preparation facility is created to allow only food delivery so that restaurants can offer high quality products while eliminating and/or reducing so many of the costs associated with traditional restaurants. A hybrid version of this began with food courts and evolved into venues like Time Out Market in cities such as Lisbon, London, South Beach, New York, Chicago and Boston, and others. This concept brought 17 gourmet restaurants together in a food court style which allowed for a more diverse selection of cuisine. 

Then the pandemic hit, and restaurants saw crippling drops in their clientele and revenue. There was a sudden switch to takeout and delivery services in the restaurant sector. Not only was an industry altered, but new industries were created and/or enhanced. One such company, Nimbus, has been described, according to one of its founders, in an article in totalfood.com, as “a hybrid between the traditional commissary kitchen and a ghost kitchen, with a few more bells and whistles.”

Haunting the entrepreneurial spirit of hopeful restaurateurs is the growing trend of ghost kitchens. As new strains of coronavirus infiltrate the more densely populated areas, and regulations begin to clamp down again for the greater good, ghost kitchens have popped up like so many bumps in the night. However, these spirits seem to be providing relief for culinary startups as well as for established businesses hanging on by apron strings.

This phenomenon can also help encourage travelers to book their vacations with confidence. Though the part of the itinerary that would normally have been set aside to dine at landmark restaurants might be curbed (literally), guests can now order from those eateries and have the meals delivered to the comfort of their hotel rooms. Although the luxury of being served one’s meal within the chic ambiance of a fine restaurant is temporarily lost, the ghost restaurant might be a not so poor substitute in light of the current pandemic.

Despite the seeming simplicity of a ghost kitchen, especially compared to the frenetic stereotype of an in-house restaurant, many restaurateurs are turning to point of sale and commerce platforms like Franpos to manage the revenue growth and eCommerce functionality of the business. Founder and CEO of Franpos, Subodh Gupta, gives ghost kitchens the power to monitor and manage their individual locations while removing the administrative burdens associated with running a kitchen.

“Ghost kitchens need a way to send orders across not only multiple menus, but across multiple platforms to the kitchen nearest the customer ordering,” Gupta explains. “Franpos not only consolidates multiple menus, but automatically reports revenues owed to each brand associated with the kitchen.”

With the pandemic raging in many states and several countries around the world, and forecasters paining a slow recovery, innovation within the travel sector might be just the thing for maintaining the industry until we all return to the new normal.