The food industry has witnessed a swift rise of pandemic since two years ago. Thanks to the evolving technology, there are techniques and virtual inventions that serve people better than before. Amid this unmissable bloom, it is important to get the right understanding about what is cloud kitchen and ghost kitchen.
So here we are, to get your basics right. We are all aware of how the food ordering system works- isn’t it?
A lot of it has to do with the new technology and on-demand platforms. Due to the pandemic, online food delivery has become essential for people to stay indoors and order food with just one tap from their smartphones.
The boom in this online culture leveraged the growth of cloud kitchen. The existing digital platform delivers your food within a significant amount of time and such only-delivery platforms are widely known as cloud kitchen and ghost kitchen.
However, there is a hairline difference between cloud kitchen and ghost kitchen. And what is that? Let us find out the sleek difference between the cloud kitchen vs ghost kitchen.
What is a Cloud Kitchen?
A simple definition of a cloud kitchen is- delivery only model of an existing and well established restaurant. Let’s say you are an owner of a restaurant and you want to introduce a new cuisine in your menu. Buying a new space and introducing a new brand would be difficult, time consuming and costly. Instead, a cloud kitchen can help you by running the same cuisine under your existing brand name.
Think of it as a digital storefront that serves the customer with a new menu. You prepare the food in your kitchen without any investment on the space and delivery through a third-party food ordering app or directly by implementing a restaurant to consumer platform.
Benefits of Cloud Kitchen
- Optimization – With cloud kitchens, you get to build the operations of the restaurant by new offerings. This helps retain the current customers and appeals to the new ones, optimizing the returns.
- Fewer Overheads – Since you can run a cloud kitchen from the existing restaurant, there are no extra expenses, new equipment, or staff needed.
- Added Revenue – With unique food offering, this model opens up a consistent revenue with no exorbitant costs.
- Experimenting New Concepts – From trying out new dishes for new menu to experimenting with the new brand is cost-effective and less risky.
What is a Ghost Kitchen?
Commercial cooking places are often known as ghost kitchens. The name sounds scary but they offer only to their target consumers. It is a professional kitchen with no storefront to welcome the foodies.
Unlike the brick-and-mortar restaurants, there is no need to invest in a lavish interior space at a prime location, parking space, etc. Instead, it can be easily set with a small rental space or shared space with other ghost kitchens. What’s more with the ghost kitchen? These shared spaces provide cooking equipment and setups with making jobs easier. These are also referred to as dark kitchens.
Benefits of Ghost Kitchen
- Quick Setup – You can start a ghost kitchen in just a few days or week with all the equipment and cooking facilities.
- Low Startup Cost – Since there is no need of any space, you need not invest in any decor or interior like that of a traditional business.
- Lower Overheads – With no brick and mortar outlet, the expenses of a ghost kitchen is equal to nil. With limited staff, daily costs, rent, and business operations are all to be taken care of.
- Flexibility – It is simple to transform into new food choices and target consumers through ghost kitchen. You can try and taste cuisine from this setup and add different concepts to the same kitchen with a diversified customer portfolio.
Cloud Kitchen vs Ghost Kitchen
How does ghost kitchen work or how does cloud kitchen work may sound near to the same, there is a little or minor difference between the two concepts of the food industry. Let’s check.
The key difference between a cloud kitchen and ghost kitchen is that the former may not have the traditional brick and mortar counterpart. Whereas, a ghost kitchen can exist on a digital platform on its own. The only way to order food is to use the on-demand online platform or mobile apps and order food online and get delivered from their delivery partners.
Cloud kitchen works with delivery only models with the help of digital presence only. They cannot exist if you do not have one traditional, well-established restaurant at least. Virtua kitchen operates within the kitchen of the traditional outlet and offers a fixed menu for online delivery. A virtual restaurant would be an added advantage in terms of revenue streams to your fist restaurant and business model with bringing in new customers.
Since both the concepts of food delivery are unique, its benefits make them stand apart from each other.
Do you know how to start a ghost kitchen? Or how to start a cloud kitchen?
Which one do you think is the best or has won the debate?
If you are the first time restaurant owner or planning for an online food delivery startup with no admittance to a traditional kitchen of a physical eatery, it is ideal to go with a ghost kitchen. As we investigated, it packs in limited investment, assets and is quicker to launch.
For a carefully prepared business person with at least one thriving eatery, beginning a cloud kitchen ends up being a productive choice. It allows you to leverage your current resources at an ideal ability to offer a new menu and catch new business sectors without overdoing it with your spending plan.
All things considered, you can begin a ghost kitchen in any situation, when you are effectively running your conventional eatery. Doing so is fulfilling, particularly when you need to catch customers in an alternate geological region. However, a cloud kitchen is a much easier and quick startup idea.
Parting Thoughts
If you are planning to start a cloud kitchen and run virtually with different restaurant partners, you need to adapt to the new digital platform that helps you run optimized business operations. Without much delay, you can reach the best app development company where a team of professionals will assist you to develop a cloud kitchen app for a wider reach and earn huge revenue.
Archana Inani is the Head of Product Marketing at Foodiv with over almost 8 years of experience. She often writes about how digitizing the food industry with food ordering systems is revolutionary and revenue-generating. Having collaborated on many such articles, Archana has a creative knack in marketing and content writing for the same.
