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That's one perspective. But the other is that cloud kitchens drastically lower the barriers to entry by removing nearly all of the upfront capital costs. That

That's one perspective. But the other is that cloud kitchens drastically lower the barriers to entry by removing nearly all of the upfront capital costs. That gives young chefs more freedom to innovate and pursue their own vision. Rather than conforming to the risk-averse demands of capital investors. On an ecosystem level it also drastically increases the competitiveness of the local market. This may be overlooked by the predominately NYC/SF/LA crowd here, but many locales in American don't have many great restaurants. Lower barriers to entry increase competitive intensity. If you live in Peoria, IL and want to have Ethiopian for dinner, it's probably not a question of choosing an already established high-quality brick-and-mortar. It's most likely a mediocre low-quality monopoly, or maybe even no Ethiopian whatsoever.

blackearl 7y ago
If there was a way to WeWork a kitchen while still being able to have a health inspector validate everything's in order, that would be fine. The article only briefly touches on that, and I'm not sure how a grubhub/doordash would validate (or if they care). Until that's explained I'll stay away from the possibility of a fly-by-night restaurant.
- zer00eyz 7y ago
  I understand your concern and it is valid, because as it stands there are plenty of ways to get around the heath inspection issue. However I suspect that this model will take off and the delivery apps will start to address your concerns. The southwest model (ever minute the plane isn't flying were loosing money) applies to kitchen space as well. Depending on your locale there is a lot of it out there being underutilized. Lots of places require that food trucks have (and many need) a physical location. Having that be in an out of the way place and NOT having to a retail side is a massive savings as the location can be "shared" and potentially come at a massive savings. Leveraging these same places for delivery only businesses (or in the case of one local truck a delivery option near the kitchen they use) has been a boon to all involved.
  - blackearl 7y ago
    I'll be happy when it gets there. My city has a pretty solid food truck market, and their food is usually unique and delicious. But I've also seen an increase on grubhub of generic shop names like "Flatbread" and "Fried Chicken" with addresses that don't seem to make sense.
- barbecue_sauce 7y ago
  I think these places exist (commissary kitchens), they just don't market themselves that way.
  - mooreds 7y ago
    Yes, commissary kitchens typically require health inspector approval and proper insurance from any food company that wants to work on its premises.
zippergz 7y ago
I mean, yeah. This sounds great on paper. I will be interested to see how it plays out in the real world. So many of these things that are supposed to lower barriers to entry and give access to less advantaged players seem to instead get exploited by the same big companies as ways to lower costs and evade accountability. I wonder in five years what percentage of these will truly be run by young innovative chefs who don't have startup capital vs. people who don't actually care about the quality of food but see a chance for a faster buck. Maybe I'm just having a cynical Friday....
- gwbas1c 7y ago
  > Maybe I'm just having a cynical Friday.... I just don't do delivery. I don't know why, it's always rubbed me the wrong way. IMO, if I'm lazy I'd rather just go out or pull something out of the freezer. I've always lived close to something that I can walk to, who will take care of all of the cleanup for the same cost as delivery. Even living in a rather rural area, I can still walk to four restaurants, three of which are exceptional. In addition, I can walk to three ice cream places and one seasonal food truck.
  - mattmaroon 7y ago
    Most food doesn't deliver well. It basically steams itself in the packaging. Anything that wasn't meant to be soft ends up that way. I get mad when I see fries even available for delivery, though I hear the big potato companies are hard at work on the solution. I've debated doing a ghost kitchen based entirely on "what foods deliver well".
    - iudqnolq 7y ago
      If you're interested, NPR did a shallow dive into the frie coating research by Big Potato. According to them, the problem is solved. > French fries don't age well. They're crispy and delicious right out of the fryer, but they get colder and soggier the faster and farther they get from the kitchen. That's fine for eating at a fast-food restaurant, and okay maybe for the drive through. > But on-demand app-enabled delivery is changing how, when, and where we eat french fries. And massive multi-billion dollar potato companies, like Lamb Weston, are worried about that. > On today's show, a team of potato scientists sets out to save the french fry. https://www.npr.org/2019/10/23/772775254/episode-946-fries-of-the-future https://www.npr.org/2019/10/23/772775254/episode-946-fries-o...

blackearl 7y ago

If there was a way to WeWork a kitchen while still being able to have a health inspector validate everything's in order, that would be fine. The article only briefly touches on that, and I'm not sure how a grubhub/doordash would validate (or if they care). Until that's explained I'll stay away from the possibility of a fly-by-night restaurant.

zer00eyz 7y ago
I understand your concern and it is valid, because as it stands there are plenty of ways to get around the heath inspection issue. However I suspect that this model will take off and the delivery apps will start to address your concerns. The southwest model (ever minute the plane isn't flying were loosing money) applies to kitchen space as well. Depending on your locale there is a lot of it out there being underutilized. Lots of places require that food trucks have (and many need) a physical location. Having that be in an out of the way place and NOT having to a retail side is a massive savings as the location can be "shared" and potentially come at a massive savings. Leveraging these same places for delivery only businesses (or in the case of one local truck a delivery option near the kitchen they use) has been a boon to all involved.
- blackearl 7y ago
  I'll be happy when it gets there. My city has a pretty solid food truck market, and their food is usually unique and delicious. But I've also seen an increase on grubhub of generic shop names like "Flatbread" and "Fried Chicken" with addresses that don't seem to make sense.
barbecue_sauce 7y ago
I think these places exist (commissary kitchens), they just don't market themselves that way.
- mooreds 7y ago
  Yes, commissary kitchens typically require health inspector approval and proper insurance from any food company that wants to work on its premises.

zippergz 7y ago

I mean, yeah. This sounds great on paper. I will be interested to see how it plays out in the real world. So many of these things that are supposed to lower barriers to entry and give access to less advantaged players seem to instead get exploited by the same big companies as ways to lower costs and evade accountability. I wonder in five years what percentage of these will truly be run by young innovative chefs who don't have startup capital vs. people who don't actually care about the quality of food but see a chance for a faster buck. Maybe I'm just having a cynical Friday....

gwbas1c 7y ago
> Maybe I'm just having a cynical Friday.... I just don't do delivery. I don't know why, it's always rubbed me the wrong way. IMO, if I'm lazy I'd rather just go out or pull something out of the freezer. I've always lived close to something that I can walk to, who will take care of all of the cleanup for the same cost as delivery. Even living in a rather rural area, I can still walk to four restaurants, three of which are exceptional. In addition, I can walk to three ice cream places and one seasonal food truck.
- mattmaroon 7y ago
  Most food doesn't deliver well. It basically steams itself in the packaging. Anything that wasn't meant to be soft ends up that way. I get mad when I see fries even available for delivery, though I hear the big potato companies are hard at work on the solution. I've debated doing a ghost kitchen based entirely on "what foods deliver well".
  - iudqnolq 7y ago
    If you're interested, NPR did a shallow dive into the frie coating research by Big Potato. According to them, the problem is solved. > French fries don't age well. They're crispy and delicious right out of the fryer, but they get colder and soggier the faster and farther they get from the kitchen. That's fine for eating at a fast-food restaurant, and okay maybe for the drive through. > But on-demand app-enabled delivery is changing how, when, and where we eat french fries. And massive multi-billion dollar potato companies, like Lamb Weston, are worried about that. > On today's show, a team of potato scientists sets out to save the french fry. https://www.npr.org/2019/10/23/772775254/episode-946-fries-of-the-future https://www.npr.org/2019/10/23/772775254/episode-946-fries-o...