Ghost Kitchens - 4Sure Solutions

The Future Of Catering…

What Is A Ghost Kitchen?

The term Ghost Kitchen is not a new concept, lots of business already use this way of working as an alternative to the more expensive bricks and mortar option. A ‘Ghost’ kitchen is essentially a kitchen that offers a professional food preparation and cooking facility set up for the delivery and or collection of meals only. A ghost kitchen contains the kitchen equipment and facilities needed for the preparation of restaurant meals but has no dining area for walk-in customers.

It has reduced overheads and as it can be a semi permanent site it can easily be moved or even extended if the site you are on allows it, meaning that when it comes to expanding your operation it is a much simpler process than moving buildings, It is a simple lift and load and then resite wherever you need to be!

This style of unit is also sometimes referred to as a Dark Kitchen, Prep Kitchen or even Virtual kitchen. These are a stripped down version of the traditional dining establishment by removing seated areas and instead, they serve as large preparation and cooking facilities for restaurants for food to be delivered or collected by customers………. Simple but effective!

Lockdowns and social distancing measures have had shutters grinding up and down for those in the restaurant business, without any sort of predictability — fortunately, demand for takeaways has helped to keep the fryers on but long term with the overheads climbing how long can this be sustained. We believe there will be an increase in the number of ghost kitchens in the U.K, as the restaurant market may have struggling groups who will be trying to tap into the fast food market in order to increase profits.

This is impacted by the increase in food delivery services like Uber Eats, we are seeing major brands like Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Just Eat utilising this type of kitchen to keep their revenues up and it has also opened up opportunities for smaller delivery services to expand and bring their business into this too.

So, What Does This Mean For Your Customers?

Greater Variety Of Choice
Faster Deliveries
Affordable Alternative

Score!

Coronavirus will be with us for a while, but people still have to eat.

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Or More Importantly, What Does This Alternative Way Of Operating Mean For You And Your Business?

There will be an increase in the number of ghost kitchens in the U.K, due to the increase in food delivery services like Uber Eats. As the restaurant market potentially starts to struggle groups will be trying to tap into the fast food market in order to increase profits.

The real downside to the current situation we are in is that eventually, even after the economy reopens, unemployment will probably rise much more if businesses cannot go back to operating as usual and government support and aid packages will eventually run out. Unemployment will rise and wages shrink for those still at work, eating in restaurants will become even more of a luxury than it already is.

But if you take a negative it can and must be turned into a positive, so let’s flip these facts in your favour. Everyone will need to eat and everyone loves a treat, so whilst your customer may not be dining in what was your dining room they can still be eating your food but from their own dining room, still a treat but one they can more easily justify.

The UK’s eating out market is dropping off, with a new age on how people are eating their foods from their favorite restaurants. Many businesses are using Ghost Kitchens to keep up with the modern-day trends, ordering food is now as easy as clicking a button on your smartphone. Do not wait any longer and evolve your service to the modern-day way of eating out.

How we are seeing companies utilise this is that they would usually have their restaurant in a certain area of town, and companies like Uber Eats, Just Eat and so on have a certain miles radius on how far someone can be to order from this restaurant. A way that some companies have been getting around this is by placing another kitchen, a Ghost kitchen, somewhere just outside the radius of their main shop. This can maximize the area that can be served to customers and boost your revenue up even more!

How Else Can A Ghost Kitchen Support Your Business?

Keeping things positive these ghost kitchens do not have to be an alternative option to the way you are currently operating they can be an opportunity. As new rules around operating businesses change and takeaways are becoming important wet led pubs who do not currently offering a food offering or perhaps do not have the space internally to house a commercial kitchen then this solution is perfect.

Utilising one of these kitchens to add value to your current business is a perfect solution to increase turnover and potentially allow you to continue trading just trading a little different.

However, this is not something that just focuses on people who currently own a restaurant. You can also have a Ghost Kitchen which can be your main selling station. The food delivery industry has seen a massive 39% increase in takeaways in the last 3 years alone, with an estimated market value of £8.5 Billion GBP in the UK. With the Coronavirus pandemic, this statistic is set to rise drastically, with more people ordering food rather than walking into the restaurant. We are seeing many people currently taking advantage and using Ghost Kitchens to boost their profits and revenue NOW, so what are you waiting for?

We are starting to see a lot more of these units being created and used, usually in a static condition. However, there has been times where a Van or Trailer has been used as a Ghost or Dark Kitchen. The way this is used is by travelling to different locations to maximize the customers that could use the unit. The only downside to these units can be the amount of food produced and the stock that can be carried, a solution to this was, where a unit had different delivery times and different points where the unit would be. This meant that they would be able to travel around and have their produce delivered to them!

Because you will be taking the customers and service away from this, it will mean your kitchen staffs can focus on nothing but cooking. When this is the case it means that you can take in more orders faster, make food faster and essentially make more money faster!

If you weren’t already hooked from the amazing information above, some other benefits of using Ghost or Dark kitchens can be the less amounts of paperwork, no staff required to gather orders, less cost on equipment, you can start selling quicker and you can serve to more customers! Now how does that sound?!