Cloud Kitchen has many names – Virtual kitchen, Ghost Kitchen and more.
These kitchens became the hot new trend and got much popular as such cloud kitchen start-ups got back up from former CEO of Uber – Travis Kalanick.
Ghost Kitchens provides the perfect piece of restaurant operations without any dine-in facility or getting into the direct contact with the customers.
The contactless customer model completely focuses on take-out service only and delivers mainly via Grubhub and Ubereats.
These third-party food service providers help the cloud kitchen to reach a wider audience which gets easily available on such platforms.
For all the entrepreneurs who are looking for the ways to start their business in the food industry, cloud kitchens might appear as the perfect solution where they can step into the industry with a low budget and without any kind of hassle.
For all the existing brands, the entrepreneurs are looking for the ways where they connect with the customers in an innovative way whether it’s through apps, websites or through social media platforms.
Though in the duration of the pandemic, cloud kitchens were not an option but it became mandatory as several rules and regulations were enforced by the government to curb further spread of the virus.
The restaurants were only left with the option of take-aways and other modes of deliveries as dine-in was strictly prohibited.
That’s when cloud kitchens became much more popular.
There are several food items which can be served only at the restaurants while dining-in and the restaurants working on such patterns need to adopt changes to curb these solutions.
As this was the only way to continue in the industry by delivering the best solutions possible or else the restaurants will be out of business in no time.
With innovation and ingenuity, there are many restaurants which are working in the same way modifying their menus so that the food items which they prepare can be delivered.
Rise of the Cloud Kitchens
Nobody knows how the food industry will be booming in the next few years.
There is no denying that the world would be a better place with the cloud kitchen delivering the best meals without any hassle.
Even the restaurants after knowing the fact that there might be a time when they are out of business so they came up with the solution of having their own cloud kitchen which will deliver the same quality of food which they liked in a restaurant.
For full-service restaurants, they will be counting the days where they need to open their doors and start flourishing and having customers the way they used to have it.
For start-ups Ghost kitchens are built in such a way that even prior to the pandemic they maintained the norms of social distancing and the things were flourishing in the same manner.
Good Food Is The Fundamental Key
Hybrid models and strategies are required when we are looking for a chance to start something new.
A full-service restaurant might even prefer the same way to partner with the ghost kitchen when you want to supplement the new developed take-out business and where other brands can make a choice while boosting the profits by rendering the kitchens as ghost kitchens for different brands.
Some restaurant owners are also wondering to further expand their kitchens into new territories looking at the popularity of the cloud kitchens.
As people have been trying their hard for delivery-based ordering in the duration of the pandemic and there are no doubts there will be more independent ghost kitchens before pop-up.
But no matter what the model is in the agile infrastructure which can offer intelligence and all the abilities to pivot which at times gets critical.
No matter whether you are a ghost kitchen or working in a traditional kitchen, the fundamentals of good management and team efforts remain the same.
The technology which deploys AI, deep analytics and all the open integration for other restaurateurs are:
- Streamlining the inventories and menu management
It becomes much pivotal to manage the cost and control the inventory waste further ensuring the sales which you got and maintaining the healthy bottom line.
Using advanced analytics and the tools, the business owner creates a framework where they get to know which are the best items in their locations and which further enables them to make adjustments to the menu which will reflect the new trends.
- Ensuring a healthy supply chain
Suppliers have been hitting it very hard by the current crisis of the pandemic and there are suppliers and retailers which have got the things in bulk.
You must be very attentive while ordering the necessary items for the kitchen and check the durability of the product and you get the fair price for them.
The inventories must be made in a specific manner and such assurance is needed at the times when all the odds are favouring you such as pandemic.
- Waste Management
It has been estimated that the waste produced by the food industry amounts roughly around $25 billions each year.
This is not only a hit to the bottom line and it’s not environmentally sound.
Through proper management of the inventories and the stock such issues can get easily tackled and the left-over food can be distributed to the poor people.
A noble cause can get started by the restaurant owners and the entrepreneurs in the food industry.
- Expansion of the models
To tackle all the three issues one must work towards the expansion of the models.
Food kits are becoming more popular which helps the busy families and chefs at home which helps the busy families to try something new at their homes by getting proper help from the experts and expanding their cooking skills.
So in addition to this, finished meals are the best options for the restaurant owners and consider the meal kits to help them to turn over the inventories and provide the customers new ways to make an interaction with the brand. - Stay Flexible
Before a decade ago, we didn’t even know swiggy, doordash or any other third-party food distributors.
Nobody can predict the services, opportunities and situations might pop up next and so it becomes very critical to have the kind of infrastructure which allows for maximum adaptation for whatever might come up in the next moment.
In the same manner it becomes much important to make sure that in the model you have access to the customer’s data and you don’t lose up the connection.
The Last Sentence
The parameters discussed in the article will help the entrepreneurs and business owners to survive in the industry no matter what the situation is.
So all such things will be of high importance when it comes to knowing the facts and figures about the food industry and how the wastage can be prevented.
Author’s Bio
James Vargas is an experienced business expert, startup business consultant, assistance in trademark registration, Food Delivery App Development and marketing head at Get Everything Delivered. With the 1.5-decade corporate experience, he is now sharing his guidance to start-ups to grow with corporate team building activities and project delivery solutions.
