Ghost Kitchens and the Call for Food Quality

4 Keys to Mastering the Hard Reality in Foodservice’s Virtual World

For?all that makes the ghost kitchen an attractive business model, its exclusive dependence on takeout and delivery complicates the most critical aspect of sustaining restaurant success.

Food quality.

Master all the other elements of a ghost kitchen enterprise—market-data optimization, digital ordering, online customer acquisition, third-party delivery negotiations, you name it—and none of it matters without controlling the quality of the meal.

Sure, takeout and delivery are about satisfying consumers’ convenience demand. But, thanks to the scare of 2020 that brought so many ghosts out of the ground—including the?launch of well over 100,000 virtual brands—the off-premises market is understatedly saturated.

Knowing that?all of these ghost kitchens can’t possibly survive, holding the competitive edge of food quality becomes even more imperative.

Here are 4 keys to chasing the ghost with a brand that differentiates on flavor.

1. Start Fresh

Speed is important, but the goal for any ghost kitchen serious about food quality should be efficiency—a thread that runs throughout this article.

Keeping menus simple and inventory streamlined, all guided by what travels well, has rapidly become gospel in the ghost kitchen.

Operations that will separate themselves are those that understand how the fresh-ingredient trend in conventional foodservice holds true in off-premises dining as well.

In a ghost-kitchen model that depends on off-premises delivery, optimizing brand impression includes shortening the distance between food prep and consumption anywhere it’s possible—and fresh, versus precut, frozen and prepackaged, does that.

Mastering the efficiency of fresh, especially in the potentially high-volume capacity of a dedicated ghost kitchen, is about finding durable and versatile food-prep equipment, adjusting menus seasonally and using local sources when available.

2. Control Your Roster

Kitchen United,?Reef Kitchens?and other macro ghost models create exciting opportunities for operators in this space, in part because they can supply almost everything from the market data to the kitchen itself.

They can also supply the labor.

That can be necessary to get a new operation off the ground. But, because consistency of experience is so essential to a restaurant brand, having control of the staff is ideal.

Again, that might be?a daunting challenge (an understatement in the current labor crisis). So, for a delivery brand almost exclusively dependent on consistency of the food, the focus ought to be on controlling the staff actually preparing the meals, leaving?customer-facing, dishwashing and other positions to the larger business entity.?

3. Prioritize Delivery Ergonomics

Even when narrowing down to the specific ghost-kitchen sector, layout scenarios from one operation to another can be diverse.

If efficiency for the purpose of differentiating on food quality is driving every decision, it should prioritize compact equipment design. The intent should be to maximize space for?all the critical measures that must be taken after cooking, given delivery’s much longer, winding road to the table.

We’re talking about plate finishing that can add a custom flavor or even a rare presentation touch; packing that can single-handedly make or break your food quality at its end point; and, most important, temperature control that starts in the kitchen using holding equipment that’s positioned well for both the cooks and the delivery drivers.

Those dedicated to mastering food quality will also look for nuance opportunities in efficiency that can be unique to delivery.

Take steak and burgers, for example, which continue to cook after being removed from the heat source. If menu and delivery-logistics planning is integrated for factors like this, the ghost kitchen model can actually serve the food-quality mission quite well.

4. Stay Fresh—as in, Innovate Like a Madman

In other words, increase the menu innovation intensity, because the ghost kitchen is an ideal way to dabble.

According to DoorDash, other dine-in consumer expectations quickly emerging in the off-premises world are menu-innovation related, such as the demand for more customization and ethnic flavors.

Take it up a notch in the ghost scenario, where the menu is so much easier and less expensive to change, from both an operational (nimbler kitchen) and promotional (digital dynamic) standpoint.

Not to mention, when the market is so saturated and consumers become overwhelmed or jaded, constantly evolving menu ideas are a must to sustain interest and serve virtual-only marketing efforts that have no brick-and-mortar presence.