Ghost kitchens continue to haunt delivery apps

When sales on food delivery apps jumped by 162% YoY during the pandemic, brands capitalized on the demand with “ghost kitchens.”

These virtual restaurants only sold food through apps and used existing kitchens to ship out trendy (often celebrity-backed) food concepts like the allegedly “inedible” MrBeast Burger.

The ghost kitchens have evolved

Ghost kitchens have inherent issues, but a startup called Wonder is trying to avoid them by building one from the ground up.

• Wonder operates “food halls,” mostly in New York.
• Each Wonder houses multiple delivery-focused “restaurants,” but unlike a food court, they all use the same kitchen.
• With the app, you can order delivery from multiple “restaurants” at once.

It seems to be working, per Eater:

• This week, Wonder acquired media company Tastemade, which publishes recipes and food-based streaming shows (DoorDash may be big, but it doesn’t have TV shows).
• Last year, Wonder acquired struggling delivery app Grubhub.
• In 2023, Wonder acquired meal kit delivery service Blue Apron.
• Wonder opened its first location in 2023 but plans to have 90 by the end of 2025.

It makes sense…

… that this would be the future of food delivery. In terms of gas or even time, why send one driver to multiple locations when drivers could get several kinds of food from one location for multiple deliveries?

But, as with most ghost kitchens, a jack of all trades is a master of none.

• Eater says Wonder’s food is “hit or miss.”
• Possibly because a ghost kitchen isn’t necessarily going to produce something as good as a dedicated spot that only makes one thing.

So you might trade a little quality for some convenience, but ain’t that the way of the future?