The phenomenon of Ghost Kitchens. Is the face of the catering world changing?
24 February 2023
Ghost kitchens. Dark kitchens. Cloud kitchens. A phenomenon that developed in 2020-2021, the years of lockdown and the pandemic, with a global market value of over 56.71 billion US dollars in 2021, seems to have what it takes to change the catering world.
Ghost kitchens. Dark kitchens. Cloud kitchens. A phenomenon that developed in 2020-2021, the years of lockdown and the pandemic, with a global market value of over 56.71 billion US dollars in 2021, seems to have what it takes to change the catering world.
The years of covid have accelerated changes that had already been developing on the market for some time. Ever more frenetic lifestyles are pushing many workers to spend less and less time in the kitchen, but the desire to eat something healthy and delicious never fades.
The solution? We can find it just a click away, on one of the many delivery apps – Deliveroo, Just Eat, Uber Eats, Glovo, etc…
But what exactly are Ghost Kitchens?
Ghost Kitchens are fully-fledged commercial kitchens, optimised for home delivery. Unlike classic restaurants – even those that only cater to takeaway – they have no storefront. They are very much invisible – real virtual restaurants.
Variations of this new method of catering are: dark kitchens, which are classic restaurants that dedicate part of their kitchen exclusively to the preparation of dishes for home delivery, under the name of one or more “virtual” establishments.
And finally, there are cloud kitchens, or in other words, shared kitchens with workstations to rent individually to different operators.
What are the impacts on the catering market?
Delivery has always been seen as a second-rate option compared to eating out. Today, however, things have changed. With the increase in energy and rental costs, it is becoming difficult for many restaurant owners to stay open without compromising on their service choices and their offer.
According to analysis from the Movimprese data observatory at Infocamere, 2021 was the year of two painful records: the number of registrations of new catering businesses was recorded as the lowest in recent Italian history, and the balance between registrations and closures was -14,188. For the first time in Italy, the number of catering businesses registered decreased in comparison with the previous year, inverting the trend of growth that had lasted for over 10 years.
Traditional catering will never entirely disappear, but it certainly needs to innovate and learn to develop faster to keep up with trends, aiming to position itself as more and more experiential, based around an exclusive product, such as our Divine Creazioni® range.
In the world of delivery, too, people are no longer compromising on an inferior-quality product, but quite the opposite – according to restaurateurs who have chosen this path, the savings on supplies, waiting staff and rent have allowed chefs to focus everything on superior-quality products. Among the choices made by some ghost kitchens in Italy and around the world, you can find our single-portion Fiordiprimi® dishes. Over 40 traditional Italian recipes, ready in less than 5 minutes in the microwave. Perfect for quick-service restaurants, as they stand up incredibly well to delivery times, and still leave chefs with the option to personalise the dish.
