The food delivery business in the UAE has seen massive growth over the past few years fuelled by the pandemic. As more people opted to stay indoors and order in, several food brands launched their own delivery services or partnered with aggregators like Talabat and Zomato. This led to the rise of a new type of restaurant - virtual kitchens without any actual dining area. Commonly known as dark kitchens, ghost kitchens or cloud kitchens, these venues solely focus on food preparation and delivery with no walk-in customers. In this article, we take a deeper look at the growth of these virtual kitchen concepts in the UAE market.

The Dark Kitchen Revolution


UAE Dark Kitchens/Ghost Kitchens/Cloud Kitchens, are commercial spaces equipped for food preparation with no dedicated dining or front-of-house service for customers. They exist solely for the purpose of filling delivery orders received through online channels or food apps. The concept first gained traction in major cities like Dubai and Abu Dhabi as restauranteurs and food brands realized the potential of the booming food delivery business. Free from the costs associated with managing a restaurant space, utilities, wait staff and more - dark kitchens allowed operators to keep overhead costs low while focusing only on production and delivery.

Brands like Kitopi, Cuisine Truck, Bread Ahead, Amasa and Kcal set up dark kitchen spaces in various communities across Dubai. Operating multiple virtual kitchens allowed them to serve a wider geographical area through centralized production points. The popularity of brands born in dark kitchens like Famous Bowl and OliOli grew exponentially as they dominated food delivery market share. Recognizing the opportunity, established restaurants also established dark kitchen extensions of their brands. This included brands like Asia Asia, Jones The Grocer and Salt that now produce exclusive delivery-only menus through virtual kitchens.

Today there are dozens of standalone dark kitchen facilities as well as co- sharing spaces like LaPano and Rentsys that host multiple food brands. This robust infrastructure caters to both residential and business communities with diverse cuisines available at their doorstep at all hours. It is estimated that the UAE currently hosts over 500 dark kitchens either as independent entities or extensions of existing restaurants.

Ghost Kitchens - A Virtual Restaurant Model

A variation of the dark kitchen concept that has also gained prominence is ghost kitchens. Also known as virtual kitchens or cloud kitchens, ghost kitchens refer to facilities that operate restaurant brands that exist solely online without any physical storefront. The brands housed in ghost kitchens have no dining area and function entirely through food delivery or takeaway orders received via apps and websites.

This allows operators to launch multiple virtual restaurant brands out of a single production space, expanding their portfolio with relatively low investment. Popular players like Kitopi, CCD, Foodlink and Hungry operate multiple ghost kitchen brands spanning cuisine types. Some of the popular ghost kitchen brands launched in the UAE include Chicken at 50, FamiMeals, Tender Crispy and Pan India - each focused on a niche menu and positioning.

By leveraging a common facility, resources and staff, ghost kitchen operators are able to keep costs down for scaling new brands. This allows them to quickly test concepts and cuisines before committing larger investment in a physical restaurant space. The model has proven successful with strong customer uptake seen for some of these virtual restaurant brands on delivery platforms. It has also allowed quick global expansion for players like Kitopi that now also run virtual restaurant concepts in international markets.

Future Outlook

With food delivery increasingly becoming the norm, especially post pandemic, industry experts believe dark kitchens and ghost kitchen operations will only gain more prominence in the UAE market going forward. The low investment and operating costs paired with high customer demand bodes well for these virtual restaurant concepts. Major real estate developers are also getting onboard the trend by setting up standalone dark kitchen facilities with plug-and-play spaces.

Aggregators like Talabat and Zomato have been aggressive in adding new delivery-only brands to their platforms as the virtual cuisine delivery market keeps evolving rapidly. Investments from funds and networks have flowed into both independent players and leading operators of virtual kitchen facilities. This will see the launch of newer brands spanning world cuisines. As more entrepreneurs look for options beyond full-fledged restaurants, we can expect to see continued expansion of dark kitchens and ghost kitchen facilities housing multiple virtual restaurant brands across the UAE in the coming years.

Overall, dark kitchens, ghost kitchens and cloud kitchens have revolutionized the food and beverage business in the UAE by streamlining operations focused solely on production and delivery. This lucrative delivery-only model has paved the way for many new food businesses as well as enabled established players to tap new opportunities cost-effectively. Virtual kitchens now play a significant role in driving the overall growth of food delivery industry in UAE.

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