What if you started your own Dark Kitchen?

In 2021, opening a restaurant may seem like a crazy idea. It was yours until recently. If you're so doubtful that you're ready to give up, starting a ghost restaurant could be a good alternative. It would be safer, and it would get your foot
in the door without putting you at as much risk as opening a physical establishment.

The advantages of a Dark Kitchen

You save money: you don't have to pay any rent. This is especially important if you had to set up shop in the city centre to make yourself known to your customers. Without a room, you won't need to buy furniture either. Another source of savings is that you don't have to pay staff for service. You save time: no need to advertise, recruit, train, supervise or pay your team.

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You can manage and control your kitchen much more easily, as everything is online. You can collect a lot of data that helps you to better understand the habits of your customers for example. They register their information easily and quickly. After delivery and tasting, they can come back to their profile and rate their experience with your brand. With this feedback, you can work on the weak points pointed out by your customers, and continue your efforts in the right direction to accentuate the strong points.

Experts in the home delivery industry and the economy predict that customer demand for home meal delivery will increase by 20% each year.

The disadvantages of a Dark Kitchen

As your presence is 100% digital, your customers will have no way of knowing who you are if you don't work your marketing strategy properly. The ever-increasing number of ghost restaurants entering the sector makes the competition very tough. The advantages mentioned above are attracting more and more restaurant owners. Using social media to build your brand, differentiate yourself from your competitors and establish and maintain contact with your customers is not just an option. It is the key to success for all ghost restaurants! Investing in advertising is also essential. Choose your media carefully and clearly define your target audience.

It is more difficult to build customer loyalty. Indeed, with a virtual kitchen, the cook does not have the possibility of coming to see his customers at the end of the meal to ask their opinion or to thank them. Human interaction is completely "banned" from this model, which makes emotions rarer, or less shared. And you should know, good food is also a myriad of emotions!

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If you get caught up in customising menus according to their popularity with your customers, you run the risk of not having a
"real" personality. It will probably be more difficult to have a speciality on the menu, or to specialise in a specific type of menu. And without a real personality, it will be more difficult to attract customers. Prices should not be your only point of differentiation, especially if you charge lower prices than your competitors.

Launching a virtual kitchen takes only a few weeks, whereas opening a physical establishment can take months. The benefits of such a venture, and their success with many foodies, are well documented. Home delivery companies such as UberEats, JustEat or Deliveroo confirm these trends.

So, do you know what specialties you're going to put on the menu?

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About RusHour

RusHour is dedicated to becoming a trusted partner for restaurants around the world, offering several products and services that help restaurants adapt to the technology and trends of tomorrow. We provide our customers with a unique way to manage all online orders from multiple platforms from one location. At the same time, our team of experts is on hand day-to-day to support restaurants through this change.

Any questions? Write to us: hello@rushour.io

Need a demonstration? Make an appointment right here!