What is a dark kitchen? Also known as virtual, remote, commissary, ghost kitchens or cloud kitchens, unlike a traditional restaurant, a dark kitchen is a professional commercial kitchen that only produces food for sale on delivery platforms. A dark kitchen for rent contains facilities needed to prepare food, but has no dining area or collection point for customers. The dark kitchen business model easily enables the creation and transitioning of a brand concept to be able to target specific demographics.
The Rise of Virtual Kitchens
Hundreds of dark kitchens are now operating all over the UK, with the majority in London, and online orders and deliveries via food delivery apps now account for around 30% of sales in the food industry.
Restaurant owners are deciding to add a delivery brand to their existing brick-and-mortar restaurant kitchen. Taking advantage of an existing kitchen by incorporating a delivery-only restaurant can capitalise on the in-house offering.
Who is the Ghost Kitchen Business Model Suitable For?
Dark kitchens or delivery kitchens are ideal for delivery-only food businesses, for use as a startup kitchen, an industry-standard kitchen for selling homemade food or as a central production unit.
Dan Warne, the managing director of Deliveroo UK explains: “The whole idea is to help restaurant businesses expand into new areas without necessarily having the same cost-base they would have in expanding on the high street.”
Dark Kitchen: The Future of Takeaway?
The ability to offer multiple cuisines from the same kitchen space is one of the key attractions of a dark kitchen. A subsidiary of Deliveroo – Deliveroo Editions – has developed a network of dark kitchens, located off-site from restaurants to increase the options available to customers and to extend the reach to new places.
The platform also supports the restaurant industry by allowing new chefs to launch for the first time. Uber founder Travis Kalanick has invested in a large number of dark kitchens in London to cater solely to takeaway orders with apps such as Uber Eats and Just Eat.
With the success of the dark kitchen, we will soon see more big brands and organisations trying out their own vertically integrated restaurants and ghost kitchens.
Running a Ghost Restaurant
To get your virtual restaurant up and running, firstly and most essentially, a commercial kitchen for rent is required during operational times. Your licensed brand or concept will need exposure and visibility on a delivery app, delivery supplies such as commercial kitchen equipment and ordering of ingredients and division of labour.
Food Quality and Food Safety
With the delivery market booming, to stay ahead of the curve, it’s essential that your delivery-only kitchen abides by the rules set by the Food Standards Agency and achieves the highest rating on the food hygiene rating scheme. By providing perfect conditions for food to be stored and prepared, it will arrive with the customer at the intended temperature for it to be safe and enjoyable to eat. It’s also worth keeping an eye out for dark kitchens that have on-site cold storage units to rent.
Local Authority Regulation
Food production is regulated at the local level by your health department. As dark kitchens are still a fairly new concept, regulators may be unfamiliar with the design. It’s important for them to understand the expected requirements of a food service business without sit-in customers.
The Benefits of Dark Kitchens for Restaurants
- Lower Operational Costs: the restaurant industry is notorious for having very high overheads. The cloud kitchen model allows the restaurant to avoid the expense of renting a restaurant space and instead focuses solely on the food, also eliminating the need for service staff.
- Flexibility & adaptability: cloud kitchens can operate from anywhere; no need to chose an expensive prime location and are able to easily adapt to seasonal demand. Smaller businesses can even benefit from joining online delivery marketplaces such as Deliveroo or Uber Eats, eliminating the need to develop their own apps for sales purposes.
- Automation: businesses can also benefit from increased efficiency due to the automated sales process and the ability to focus on food preparation processes rather than service. This efficiency is necessary for food scale-ups and larger companies.
- Food Quality: healthy, high-quality food is essential for today’s customers, hence the reason many of these kitchens have dedicated their marketing to better quality foods at a lower price.
- Technology: cloud kitchens have access to user data and real-time adaptability to determine demand in specific areas.
Cloud Kitchen Business Models
The ghost kitchen has a few variations, all very similar and mostly function in the same way, but slight differences that might sway you between one or the other. So, if anybody asks you, “what are dark kitchens?” here are the different business models of the dark kitchen:
The “traditional” dark kitchen
When one brand owns or rents a single kitchen location and specialises in a single type of cuisine, and relies on delivery apps. With questions around the high street format, are traditional dark kitchens the future of the food industry?
Takeaway dark kitchen
Similar to a traditional setup but additionally allows customers to wait for and collect their food.
Multi-brand dark kitchen
To keep operational costs down, multiple brands share one kitchen under one parent company.
Aggregator-owned dark kitchen
Food delivery app aggregator channels are also using the dark kitchen models to offer an empty kitchen space for businesses to rent.
Outsourced dark kitchen
In the most recent addition to the cloud kitchen business model, a restaurant is able to outsource as many processes as they wish to before applying the finishing touches themselves.
At Dephna, we offer complete flexibility and 24-hour access with commission-free deliveries. If you’re interested in a dark kitchen for rent in London, enquire now to book a visit.
Dark Kitchen FAQs
A dark kitchen is a commercial kitchen built for delivery-only food businesses. Instead of serving customers in a dining room, orders are usually placed through delivery apps, websites or direct ordering platforms, then prepared and sent out for delivery or collection.
A dark kitchen works by giving food businesses a professional space to prepare delivery orders without needing a traditional restaurant premises. The business handles its menu, stock, staff, equipment and delivery setup, while orders usually come through platforms such as Deliveroo, Uber Eats, Just Eat or the brand’s own ordering system.
The biggest benefits are lower overheads, flexibility and the ability to scale quickly. Without a front-of-house space, businesses can focus on food preparation, delivery efficiency and testing new menus or locations without the same costs as a full restaurant.
Yes. Dark kitchens still need to meet food safety and hygiene standards, even if customers never visit the premises. Businesses should register with the relevant local authority, follow Food Standards Agency guidance, and work towards a strong food hygiene rating.
Dark kitchens are used by delivery brands, restaurants expanding into new areas, caterers, takeaway businesses, virtual restaurant brands and food start-ups. They can also be useful for established businesses that want to test a new concept without opening another physical restaurant.
Most dark kitchens need some form of chilled or frozen storage, especially if they handle fresh ingredients, prepared meals, sauces, meat, dairy or desserts. Having cold storage on the same site as the kitchen can make stock management easier and help keep food safe.
Yes. Many operators use one kitchen to run several virtual brands, provided the space, equipment, staff and workflow can support it. This can be a practical way to make better use of kitchen capacity and test different cuisines or menus from the same location.
Author Information
This article was co-written by..
Kathryn, Copywriter
Kathryn is an experienced copywriter with a flair for creating engaging content for the food and ecommerce industry. From spotlighting the latest culinary trends to showcasing innovative business solutions, her words bring ideas to life and connect with audiences. When she’s not writing, she’s exploring the local London food scene or uncovering fresh inspiration for her next project.
