In a highly competitive industry such as food service, the cost of running a restaurant can get too expensive to realize any profits. This has led to many restaurant entrepreneurs finding ways of lessening costs without sacrificing quality. One way of doing this that has proven successful is by opening what are known as ghost kitchens.
What Is A Ghost Kitchen?
A ghost kitchen is a restaurant without a physical space to operate within. This business model involves acquiring kitchen space, training workers, and providing them with an operational menu, recipes, and other resources to prepare the food. The owner of a ghost kitchen then makes the food available to customers through home delivery and drive-throughs. The majority of these ghost kitchens prefer using combi ovens for their food preparation.
Why Consider A Ghost Kitchen?
Due to the high operational costs for business, new restaurants today fail within a year of starting. Bills such as rent are high and equipment like chairs, ovens, tables, flatware, and cooking equipment are too costly for many to afford. For this reason, many restaurateurs are looking for new ways to cut costs.
Ghost kitchens are a new business model that can reduce overhead costs, increase profits, and give more food service entrepreneurs the ability to run successful startups. The thought behind this is that running a kitchen is way cheaper than an entire restaurant with staff.
Why Ghost Kitchens Are Popular
This business model has grown in popularity during the past few years for several reasons. Some of which are customer-dependent, while others favor entrepreneurs. These reasons include
Customer preference
The model of delivering customers' food to their homes is highly preferable for most people. Ghost kitchens grant better quality than fast foods; and convenience that other takeout processes don't offer. This customer preference is the main reason why the model is fast gaining popularity.
Rapid expansion
Since ghost kitchens have no physical location, they can quickly expand and move to different markets. Additionally, possessing effective food preparation equipment like the combi oven, ghost kitchens can produce numerous types of foods at one go. This advantage helps them cater to more customers and expand their base.
Easy market penetration
Since there are no physical locations for these types of businesses, the cost of entry is low. This has simplified the process of starting a ghost kitchen venture for most entrepreneurs.
Less human resource requirement
The lack of a physical location also plays a critical role in reducing the number of staff required. All you need in terms of personnel is one chef and a few employees to run the kitchen and prepare the food using combi ovens for maximum efficiency.
How Combi Ovens Help In Ghost Kitchens
Combi ovens are useful in many ways, such as making a variety of foods. The ovens can also handle different preparation methods like steaming, roasting, baking, boiling, and frying.
Furthermore, these appliances are energy efficient, which is advantageous for those who work on limited budgets. These ovens have consistent internal temperatures. They can also cook food and then cool it, store it and reheat it later. Still, combi ovens can be left unattended during this process, which is a valuable attribute, since many kitchens do not have any trained workers present each moment.
The most significant benefit of a combi oven is cooking food efficiently with less liability compared to traditional cooking methods. It allows a business owner to cook various dishes in the same oven using different modalities, therefore, maximizing space and resources.
A RATIONAL iCombi pro is one of the best combi oven models. We've spoken in length recently about the entire RATIONAL lineup, from the iCombi Pro to the iCombi Classic, and even the iVario. We're confident that there's a perfect combi oven from RATIONAL that will be the best fit for your ghost kitchen operation.
We'd love to have a discussion about how a combi oven can help your ghost kitchen. Please click the image below to connect to a helpful team member and receive a free foodservice assessment.
