Summary: <br> {caption}VIRTUAL RESTAURANT: DoorDash Kitchens in February opened a ‘ghost kitchen’ in Redwood City, California. At least five chain restaurants are sharing the space to cater to customers who order online. DoorDash is an online third-party food-delivery service and is among the mobile-ordering operations experiencing exponential growth during the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo: Shutterstock){/caption}<br> ‘The world is changing’ as COVID-19 pandemic accelerates adoption of food-delivery apps by restaurants and customers<br> ast year, DoorDash opened a ghost kitchen in Redwood City, California, part of Silicon Valley.<br> DoorDash Kitchens invites restaurants to operate out of a shared kitchen. Chick-fil-A is among the five tenants.<br> Ghost kitchens are real commercial-grade kitchens wholly dependent on internet ordering and third-party delivery services, such as <a href="https://www.doordash.com/en-US" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">DoorDash</a> and <a href="https://www.ubereats.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Uber Eats</a>.<br> In March 2018, <a href="https://www.pentallect.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Pentallect Inc.</a>, a food industry strategy firm, <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/third-party-food-delivery-market-poised-for-explosive-growth-300606417.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">valued</a> the third-party food delivery sector at $13 billion and <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/third-party-food-delivery-market-poised-for-explosive-growth-300606417.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">predicted</a> it would grow by 13.5 percent a year. This includes deliveries from restaurants and grocery stores.<br> It is an emerging concept in the food-and-beverage industry that is experiencing an acceleration in adoption as owners and operators of restaurants, including those in hotels, are looking for ways to stay in business during the coronavirus pandemic.<br> The <a href="https://restaurant.org/home" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">National Restaurant Association</a> reported, because of the coronavirus pandemic, restaurants will lose $240 billion in sales and 8 million jobs this year.<br> <br> {caption}LOST BUSINESS: The coronavirus pandemic has taken a dramatic toll on restaurants, as this infographic by <a href="https://www.statista.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Statista</a> shows.{/caption}<br> Adding a tech-driven delivery model to any restaurant, whether it’s stand-alone or inside a hotel, could generate new streams of revenue and save businesses and jobs.<br> Capitalizing on this trend in a big way is <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/alp-franko-61b8b81/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Alp Franko</a>, a native of Turkey and founder of <a href="https://www.thelocalculinary.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Local Culinary</a>, a ghost kitchen franchise of 50 restaurant brands that are delivery only.<br> Ghost kitchens are also known as virtual kitchens or cloud kitchens. They’re real commercial-grade kitchens wholly dependent on internet ordering and third-party delivery services.<br> Franko said the term “ghost kitchen” is a “little bit exaggerated.”<br> “A ghost kitchen is a simple commissary kitchen dedicated to producing food items just for delivery. At the end, it’s not such a big deal; it’s just a regular [restaurant] kitchen.”<br> Franko said he has a background in restaurant operations, running 25 different brands in Europe. “When I came to the U.S., I wanted to invest in something new.”<br> He came up with the ghost kitchen concept in May 2019 and shifted to a franchise model this past July. The Local Culinary franchisee can be a new restaurateur or an established eatery that wants to expand its operation to include delivery-only menus.<br> “I believe the virtual restaurant is a very important component in t...
