The 7 important facts you need to know before starting your ghost restaurant!

When digital technology tends to take precedence over the real world, you have to know how to adapt. And the restaurant industry is no exception to the rule. Ghost restaurants are becoming more and more common.

A ghost restaurant is an establishment that... doesn't exist. It has no room and sells its food only on home delivery platforms. Fast-food restaurants are also getting into the act, for obvious reasons: to reach a wider clientele, to increase their turnover and to be present in a larger geographical area, without having to buy and maintain "brick and mortar" establishments.

If the Covid-19 health crisis has made you want to open your own virtual kitchen, RusHour shares with you 7 things you should know before you start.

The good points

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- Lower overall cost than a traditional restaurant

Since you don't have a room to welcome your customers, you don't need to hire staff dedicated to serving them.

Online ordering allows you to track the preferences of your customers. This way, you can adapt your menus and organize your workspace according to your needs. You also save on the food you buy: you go straight to the essentials.

There is no need to rent a place in the city centre. Set up in the outskirts of cities (you will quickly see the difference on the amount of your rent!), where the classic restaurants are lacking and where your suppliers will come to you more easily.

- Flexibility is essential to remain competitive

With a virtual kitchen, you can offer burgers, pasta, salads or vegetarian dishes. If one of your formulas doesn't work, you can easily change or delete it. Depending on what your competitors are doing, you can also change your target, or aim wider.

Negative points

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- No physical presence = lack of customer loyalty

A ghost restaurant does not create the same links with its customers as a physical establishment. To attract enough customers, you will have to work on your digital strategy.

- Multiplying the points of presence

Being present only on delivery platforms is risky: it makes you dependent on what happens there. Or not... In order for your virtual kitchen not to turn into a fiasco, you will have to "show up" elsewhere. This "multi-presence" will force you to manage your menus (uploading, modifications...) in several places and perhaps on various delivery platforms. This represents a significant amount of work.

To manage this aspect in the best possible way, you can rely on the RusHour software. It centralizes all your orders on one terminal, allows you to change all your menus at once and saves you time.

How to get started?

- Find the best spot

Ideally, your restaurant should be located within a 5km radius, in order to optimize your delivery times.

- Make room for innovation!

Your business will require you to make choices: will you have your own delivery drivers? If you are present on several platforms, will you accept to be overwhelmed, or will you opt for a management software like RusHour?

- Rely on advertising

It's a good way to make yourself known and to stand out from other brands. Create your own app, be active on social networks, ...

With the health measures in place, ghost kitchens are not going away anytime soon. All you have to do is get started!

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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!