Buzz
Ordering from third-party delivery apps like Uber Eats has never been easier, with seemingly endless restaurant options in your area. But the catch? This vast selection might not be what it seems. Some of these offerings could be from ghost kitchens—online-only establishments operating out of the same facility, disguised as multiple restaurants.
Mashable reports that Uber Eats will be removing around 5,000 of these ghost kitchens from its platform this week.
To dive deeper into this, I reached out to David Dietz, the owner of BBC Tavern and Grill in Greenville, Del. (Full disclosure: Dave Dietz is my dad, and I grew up working at the restaurant. Even fuller disclosure: I thought I knew his stance on ghost kitchens, but he completely surprised me.)
Here’s what you should know about why delivery platforms are cracking down on ghost kitchens and how to avoid ordering from them.
What exactly are ghost kitchens?
Ghost kitchens are spaces used to prepare takeout orders, but they don’t have a physical dining room or storefront for customers to visit. The food you order from a seemingly authentic online store—complete with its own logo and name—might actually come from a kitchen of a different restaurant serving entirely different types of food. For example, a trendy BBQ sandwich shop might be run by a local chain that typically serves a completely different menu. Ghost kitchens save on startup costs, rent, and staff, which makes them more 'invisible' compared to traditional restaurants. So, are they spooky because of ghosts? Unfortunately, no. But are they concerning because they could change how we experience restaurants in the future? Definitely.
While ghost kitchens existed before the pandemic, their numbers skyrocketed during COVID. According to the Wall Street Journal, Uber Eats now features over 40,000 ghost kitchens, a dramatic increase from just 10,000 in 2021. Last year, Hospitality Technology predicted the ghost kitchen market could reach $71.4 billion by 2027. In short, ghost kitchens are here to stay. But what does their rise mean for you?
Why ghost kitchens are important for you
Some people argue that ghost kitchens are unethical and deceive customers, while others warn that they may jeopardize the future of traditional food service models. Here’s how ghost kitchens could impact your takeout experience.
As a consumer, a major concern about ghost kitchens is likely the quality of the food. From a flavor perspective, there’s no clear evidence that these outsourced kitchens produce lower-quality meals—especially when smaller brands use the ghost kitchen model to grow their existing businesses.
Regarding health and safety, ghost kitchens are required to follow restaurant regulations. However, one downside is that customers can’t access health inspection ratings for ghost kitchens like they can for traditional restaurants.
Beyond culinary concerns, your worries may also be economic—like trying to cut costs on takeout and delivery—and ethical, such as third-party services that withhold employee tips.
Ghost kitchens aren’t a substitute for in-person dining
Some think pieces draw comparisons between the threat ghost kitchens pose to restaurants and how Amazon delivery affects in-person retail shopping. Dietz, however, disagrees: 'People will always want to sit down and eat at a restaurant.'
In other words, while the Amazon-killing-retail analogy might be apt for services like Instacart and grocery shopping, dining out is a fundamentally different experience than running errands or ordering Chinese food. Then again, as someone who once frequented movie theaters, I can understand the worry.
Still, Dietz believes that ghost kitchens offer smaller restaurants a way to stay competitive, helping them expand and streamline delivery operations in an era where most people are ordering food at home. Additionally, The New York Times highlights that ghost kitchens can be 'a lifeline for the independent restaurateur.' However, with the rapidly growing marketplace, big ghost-franchise brands (like MrBeast Burger) can pay third-party apps to prioritize their products, while independent eateries (like my family’s) get pushed further down.
How to identify a ghost kitchen
Whatever your concerns may be when ordering takeout, perhaps you simply want to know exactly where your food is coming from. Here are our tips to help you spot a ghost kitchen:
Search for the restaurant name. It may seem straightforward, but channel your inner detective to check if the restaurant has a physical address, images, reviews, or even seems legitimate. Similar to dating apps, if you can’t find any online presence, it could be a ghost kitchen.
Check the full restaurant description in the delivery app; you might find fine print revealing its parent company (e.g. Applebee’s disguised as Neighborhood Wings).
Verify the address of the restaurant and the company’s headquarters. If both are listed at the same address, it’s a ghost kitchen.
Look at multiple restaurant addresses in your area. If you spot an unreasonably large number of eateries clustered in one spot, it’s likely a ghost kitchen network.
With all this information about ghost kitchens, I’m sticking to what I’ve believed for years: Whenever possible, order directly from restaurants to support them rather than using the major delivery apps.
