How Ghost Kitchens Operate

Commissary kitchen spaces are rented by the hour, day, or month to host multiple virtual restaurant brands under one roof. These centralized facilities allow restaurants and food entrepreneurs to share professional kitchen infrastructure, storage, and delivery logistics. Operators can focus on food preparation and sales while outsourcing other operational tasks. Menu items are prepared to order and then picked up or delivered by drivers from third-party services. Orders are received through websites and mobile apps connected to delivery platforms without a traditional storefront.

Examples of Successful Virtual Kitchen Brands

One of the most prominent virtual kitchen concepts is Virtual Dining Concepts, which manages over 100 virtual kitchen locations nationwide for brands like MrBeast Burger and Mariah's Cookies. Celebrities like Jason Derulo and Drake also operate virtual kitchen brands via Virtual Dining Concepts. Kitopi is another major player, operating over 100 virtual kitchen across the US and UK. Individual cities also host thriving virtual kitchen hubs, like CloudKitchens in Los Angeles which hosts hundreds of brands under one commercial facility. Popular delivery-only restaurant brands that started as virtual kitchen include Chick-fil-A restaurants without dining rooms and Sweetgreen's delivery kitchens. These examples demonstrate how the virtual kitchen model allows food businesses to thrive at scale through delivery and logistics efficiency.

What is it?

A ghost kitchen is a commercial kitchen space that is used solely for the preparation of food for delivery or pick-up. It allows restaurants to operate without a dining area, front of house staff, or traditional restaurant space. Virtual kitchen utilize streamlined kitchen infrastructure and food delivery logistics to function as delivery and take-out only businesses.

Advantages for Restaurants

One major advantage of virtual kitchen is significantly lower overhead costs compared to traditional brick-and-mortar restaurants. By eliminating dining areas and front of house staff, virtual kitchen can save on real estate, utilities, maintenance, and payroll costs. This allows restaurants to focus solely on food preparation at a much lower monthly cost. Virtual kitchen are also highly scalable—additional brands or menus can be added easily without expanding physical space. This flexible model lets restaurants experiment with new concepts and menus at low risk.

Challenges for Ghost Kitchen Operators

While promising for growth, the virtual kitchen industry faces challenges as well. First is standing out amid intense competition—a single commissary kitchen can host dozens of virtual brands, making marketing and differentiation difficult. Operational complexity is also a challenge without traditional staffing infrastructure and dining space oversight. Delivery logistics need optimization to maintain speed and quality control from kitchen to customer. Virtual kitchen operators must also continually innovate menus and concepts to keep online orders flowing in a highly dynamic industry. Overall, success requires strong brand building, operational execution, and logistics coordination to overcome the limitations of the virtual, delivery-only model.