The Rise of the Virtual Restaurant (Published 2019)

As Americans dine-out less and order-in more, “virtual kitchens” are emerging in dense metropolitan areas to house dozens of delivery-only concepts in converted warehouses. The biggest player in the US is CloudKitchens, backed with $150m from Uber founder and ex-CEO Travis Kalanick. Watch as we provide an inside look into these mysterious kitchens ... See more

So-called “ghost kitchens,” which have no storefront and exist only online and in delivery apps, were until recently a novelty, but are now becoming more popular. One of Your Fare’s clients managed to cram 10 different restaurant concepts into a single ghost kitchen, and each served customers on four different delivery platforms.

Delivery-only restaurants will evolve faster as setup costs drop.

There’s work involved in making the shift to delivery and takeaway — time and money that a restaurant likely does not have to spend. In the best-case scenario, the model effectively turns restaurants into so-called “ghost kitchens,” eliminating the need for nearly all front-of-house staff. David Chang has called the pivot to delivery “fools gold.”