What is a Dark Kitchen? : Setting up a Dark Kitchen vs Traditional Shopfront
The food industry is ever-evolving, with new models of food service emerging onto the scene. One of the more recent quick service innovations is dark kitchens, a way for QSRs to operate food delivery functions without a traditional shopfront location. But for a franchisee looking to run a successful QSR branch, should you try the new dark kitchen business model or stick with the traditional shopfront restaurant?
In this guide we’ll cover what dark kitchens are, along with their benefits and drawbacks in comparison to more typical QSR branches.
What is a Dark Kitchen?
A dark kitchen, also called a ghost kitchen, is a delivery-only restaurant housed in an unmarked building. These buildings, which are often found in industrial estates, usually host dark kitchens from numerous QSR chains, making them a strong business model option for master franchisees running branches under numerous brands.
This is completely opposite to a traditional shopfront QSR restaurant, which is usually placed in a high footfall area such as a high street, service station, shopping centre or other highly visible location. These restaurants often have a dine-in area and an option for customers to directly pick up food from the venue to take away, in addition to the option for delivery drivers to collect food.
Is a Dark Kitchen or a Traditional Shopfront Better?
Both a dark kitchen and a traditional shopfront are excellent options for a QSR franchisee looking to capitalise on the nation’s growing love for swift service delivery options. Below, we’ll compare some of the key differences between a traditional shopfront and a dark kitchen business.
Dark Kitchen vs Traditional Shopfront Overhead Costs
If you’re looking for lower overhead costs in setting up your QSR venue, a dark kitchen may be the right choice. A dark kitchen has a much lower initial cost than its more traditional counterparts, as there is no dine-in space and no need for front-of-house staff.
Dark kitchens also operate on an optimised-for-delivery menu, meaning that they only offer core items for the most swift and efficient preparation. This allows you to save money on ingredients and equipment in comparison to a traditional shop, which would have to provide a much broader menu and special items. It also reduces labour costs further as not as many back-of-house staff members are needed to complete orders.
Finally, unlike a traditional shopfront, dark kitchens don’t need to be placed in a high-footfall or high-visibility area to attract customers, allowing you to set up in lower-rent buildings. In fact, many dark kitchens actually share a venue with other franchises, further reducing rent and power costs.
Dark Kitchen vs Traditional Shopfront Marketing
One significant difficulty of running a dark kitchen restaurant compared to one with a traditional shopfront is that you aren’t clearly visible to those in the local area to attract customers. With a traditional shopfront, you have a glowing sign and an eye-catching logo to let potential customers know you are open for business.
As dark kitchens don’t have this, you’ll need to invest in your digital strategy. However, this is easier said than done, as visibility on delivery platforms is highly competitive, although significantly easier for established brands.
Therefore, it is wise not to be overly reliant on external delivery platforms. Instead, use your own platform in addition to mainstream apps like Deliveroo and Uber Eats. Social media marketing is also a crucial investment in attracting orders.
Dark Kitchen vs Traditional Shopfront Menu Management
As mentioned, the menu of a dark kitchen is optimised for efficiency. Staff don’t need to be trained in cooking new, seasonal items, and seasonal stock alterations aren’t as much of a concern.
However, as in all kitchens, ingredient shortages will occur – and for a dark kitchen, this means uploading and updating all menu items on all delivery platforms. This can be time-consuming, but is vital to prevent delivery drivers being sent out to collect orders that can’t be fulfilled. At the same time, this is also a concern for traditional shopfront venues with the option for delivery orders.
Dark Kitchen vs Traditional Shopfront Efficiency
A dark kitchen is all about efficiency. With the ability to run multiple QSR brands in a single venue, they are flexible and adaptive. As mentioned, the optimised menus result in highly efficient production, offering extreme speed of service for the ever-more impatient modern consumer.
The delivery data gleaned from the apps can also lead to further optimisation of the running of your kitchen, allowing you to predict peak periods and staff accordingly.
Are Dark Kitchens The Future of QSRs?
There’s no doubt that the dark kitchen is an ingenious business model. However, the traditional shopfront QSR remains a successful venture and a cornerstone of modern dining.
QSRs and takeout venues with front-of-house capabilities are highly effective ways to capitalise on hungry high-street shoppers and late-night bar and nightclub crowds. Shopfront QSRs also continuously modernise and optimise for efficiency, with increased digitalisation, smart menu boards, more efficient prep lines, and more.
The Airedale Group: Design, Build and Install Your Traditional QSR or Dark Kitchen
Whether you opt for a traditional shopfront or a dark kitchen, we at Airedale have a wealth of expertise to create the most efficient industrial kitchen space for you. We’ll design your kitchen to be most beneficial to your chosen business model, which will then be installed by our highly-trained expert engineers as part of our seamless turnkey solution. From there, you’ll continue to enjoy our holistic cradle-to-grave service, including planned preventative maintenance services that decrease downtime and menu-limiting malfunctions for greater operational efficiency.
Book a consultation to create your most efficient dark or traditional shopfront quick-service kitchen today.
