Ghost kitchen offers opportunities for veteran restaurateurs

DENVER, Colo. — A colorful mural helps the Chef Ready shade room basal retired from its neighbors connected a engaged Denver street. The building’s interior is simply a maze of doors and room equipment, wherever adept chefs similar Keven Kinaschuk are crafting a wide scope of planetary cuisine.

“It’s eclectic, it’s fresh,” Kinaschuk said of his restaurant, McKinners Pizza.

McKinners’ archetypal brick-and-mortar determination opened successful a Denver suburb successful the aboriginal 2000s. The paper ranges from pierogies to deep-dish pizza.

The archetypal determination remains unfastened today, but the concern changed dramatically astatine the tallness of the pandemic.

“We went from a full-service eating room, past erstwhile COVID hit, we went to conscionable takeout and delivery,” Kinaschuk said. “It’s a beauteous hefty undertaking. I went from 24 employees to five.”

The pandemic helped nudge Kinaschuk toward the Chef Ready shade kitchen. It was a determination he’d been considering for immoderate time.

“It seemed similar much and much radical were starting to bid online,” Kinaschuk said. “And I thought it would beryllium a large thought to look into that.”

Ghost kitchens person been astir for a while, but they exploded successful popularity successful the mid-2010s, erstwhile transportation apps gained popularity successful ample metro areas. The pandemic accelerated the industry’s growth.

Some analysts judge the nutrient transportation abstraction volition beryllium a trillion-dollar manufacture by 2030. Ghost kitchens volition beryllium a portion of that.

“The outgo of going into thing similar this versus the outgo of a brick-and-mortar, comparatively speaking, it’s a 4th of the cost,” said Nili Poynter, the laminitis of Chef Ready.

Poynter and her hubby opened the Chef Ready abstraction successful 2020. They’d invested successful restaurants successful the past, but Chef Ready represents their archetypal foray into the shade room business.

“One of our biggest lines for our tenants is their occurrence is our success,” Poynter said. “We person done arsenic overmuch arsenic we perchance tin successful presumption of helping them win successful their concern truthful that they tin turn it due to the fact that that volition lone mean that we volition grow.”

The Chef Ready squad works with each caller restaurateur connected a motorboat plan. New concern owners who participate the abstraction person entree to an experienced cook and societal media team. The extremity is to turn them into durable members of the community.

For Tay Wilbanks, the shade room represented a 2nd chance. Her bar, The Greedy Hamster, closed successful mid-2021.

“It was conscionable truthful evident by August [2020],” Wilbanks said, “even if we did unfastened up for immoderate benignant of constricted capacity, oregon to-go and each that, maintaining a brick-and-mortar hospitality spot was going to beryllium intolerable successful downtown Denver.”

Wilbanks transitioned The Greedy Hamster into a shade room abstraction astatine Chef Ready successful November 2021. The one-time barroom inactive features cocktails connected the menu. Wilbanks is besides cooking up macarons, sandwiches and gallic fries.

“We’ve ever had the champion fries,” she said.

The modulation is not a elemental one. Ghost kitchens person plentifulness of contention from firm chains. Cracker Barrel, Chuck E. Cheese, and Wendy’s person each explored shade room concepts successful bid to grow their reach.

Ghost room operators indispensable besides modulation from a noisy edifice to a soundless kitchen. It tin beryllium hard to gauge what’s working.

“No interactions with the customers but online oregon connected the telephone,” Wilbanks said. “Somebody who has a emblematic hospitality background, that's a pugnacious shift.”

Despite the challenges, Wilbanks believes her concern is acceptable up for occurrence successful the evolving nutrient industry.

“It’s a learning curve, definitely,” she said. “But we’re hoping by the archetypal of the year, we’ve recovered our groove and we’re heading into the sunset.”