The Rise And Rapid Fall Of Ghost Kitchens

The rise (and fall) of ghost kitchens is somewhat of a spooky tale in and of itself. Built on a shaky foundation, ghost kitchens exploded in popularity, especially during lockdown. Basically, unidentifiable kitchens cooked food that delivery services brought to millions of doorsteps. But who were these so called 'Ghost Kitchens'? How were each of these 'ghost kitchen's rated for food prep safety? Questions like these went out the window as the pandemic took hold, as many people were all too happy to just have tasty food delivered when they couldn't leave their homes. They even put up with the 'wrong orders', smashed food, and inflated price tags. But when lockdown ended, the business model struggled to keep up with 'normal'. Even Youtubers such as MrBeast seem to be regretting getting into the 'Ghost Kitchen' game!

#ghostkitchen #mrbeast #weirdhistoryfood

[otakubullfrog]

It's really the outsourcing of delivery to the apps that made the whole thing unworkable. The problem is that traditional restaurants had already figured out all the rules for successful delivery (limit it to a very small radius, only offer it if your food travels well, make the customer spend a minimum dollar amount to qualify, use your own employees so they can be held accountable, etc.) and these self-proclaimed market disrupters thought they could just break them all.

[tokos]

Ghost Kitchens are just weird. They feel like something that should be illegal but the concept is so bizarre no one ever thought anyone would do such a thing.

[roshaunkerdzaliev]

I think that Mr. Beast’s failed burger concept is the least of his problems right now.

[asprywrites]

This answers so many questions as to why Google Maps places Libby's BBQ right in the middle of Ruby Tuesday.

[patientallison]

After watching Eddie Burback's video i started looking up the address on Doordash restaurants before ordering. Turns out the "Burger Den" I had been ordering from was actually Denny's

[Mr_Oggie]

It might be different here in Canada, but a coworker of mine his wife runs a virtual restaurant out of their house and she still has to meet all local requirements that a "real" restaurant would including proper food prep and storage areas, sanitary requirements, etc... and they get regular visits from a health inspector.

[dylanlangston]

food: $12.46
food + delivery: $65.26
fees + taxes: $39.99

meal total: $105.25

[tremorsfan]

It reminds me of a bit on The Simpsons. Homer and Marge order from two different food stalls and the camera pans down to an underground room where a chef places slabs of gray meat on a conveyor belt.

[Ardygun]

After ordering once from a ghost kitchen I started looking up the address they have on the food delivery apps. If the location it gave me wasn't a real restaurant I wouldn't order from there. Sad to see those garbage things still existl. At least the apps, doordash at least that I know of, tell you now if a place is a ghost kitchen or not

[MoonwolfeConsulting]

High prices for very little good, consistently "delivered" undercooked, incorrectly prepared/assembled and/or missing completely and ice cold!

[johnfronczek]

During the height of the pandemic, I only ordered takeout from brick and mortar restaurants. I ordered Pad Thai, Chinese food, loaded waffles, and pizza from existing restaurants and takeout places.

[guyk]

7:08 The Mr. Beast Burger is how I found out about ghost kitchens. Looking at it I thought all these different places making these burgers consistently would go out the window. Seeing videos on it I'm not surprised. Watching Eddy Burback's video on the ghost kitchens he ordered from like 10 of the same items and they were all prepared in the same building and kitchen. Different prices also from what I recall.

[donkeyhobo]

People did videos about it and all the restaurants from the same ghost kitchen just sell the same food that all the other restaurants sell. So it's literally the same food with a different label like at the grocery store getting the same food with a different label from the same distributor

[Jigglysaint]

Well Mr Beast's ghost kitchens might have passed away, but he's apparently got more skeletons in his closet nowadays.

[NewMessage]

Zombie kitchens a thing? I mean, they like to eat.

[chloeiacovou]

There was a ghost kitchen in my town during the pandemic, and when the pandemic ended, they opened into a new physical restaurant and called it Ghost Kitchen lol. Quite ironic.

[Zzyzx--]

Consistently disappointed in anything ordered via a delivery service whether ghost kitchen or actual restaurant. Huge cost, cold food, inferior cooking, missing or wrong items - just a complete waste of money for a garbage meal. Hard nope to using any of them again.

[noControl]

The idea of a kitchen that makes food for lots of brands and has no dine-in doesn't bother me at all, the fact that it still costs $30 to have a single meal of cold soggy food delivered even though they have cut all of those expenses does.

[SillyScores]

Ghost kitchens, for making boo-berry pie

[JonManProductions]

As someone who went full time on Doordash for about 5 months in 2023 to stay afloat while I was unemployed, I don't think I ever encountered any of these ghost kitchens named here other than maybe a singular time doing a delivery Mr. Jimmy Burger that was operating from a food trailer in downtown.

I think by the time I was doing it last year, not a single one of these existed anymore... however I will say that from experience that as someone who holds a high rating on the platform and focused on getting stuff delivered correctly and checking orders, when that variable isn't in play, the worst thing that restaurants can do is to not properly allocate for delivery orders or handle making food for people in the restaurant vs a line of delivery people waiting for someone's food. This always guaranteed not only a long wait, but also a higher chance the order is completely Snafu'd.