Cloud kitchens, also popularly referred to as dark kitchens, ghost kitchens, virtual restaurants, or restaurant-as-a-service (RAAS), are kitchens, which focus exclusively on takeaways. These kitchens work on a hub-&-spoke model – where ‘hub’ refers to the kitchen where food is produced and ‘spoke’ refers to the delivery partner that makes sure the food reaches in time to the customers. Depending upon the popularity of a kitchen and the scale of demand it receives, a hub can have multiple spokes i.e., multiple delivery partners.
Since the cloud kitchens do not host customers therefore, they do not need dining space which considerably reduces the cost of renting the space for business. Also, only a one-time investment is needed at the starting of the business for buying utensils and basic kitchen appliances that are necessary for producing quality food. Since the overhead expenses are significantly lower for cloud kitchens, it allows them to serve food at a lower price as well, which attracts customers like moth to a flame. With a model of minimum capital investment, low risk, high margins and endless opportunities, cloud kitchens are becoming one of the safest food business formats. The impact of cloud kitchen has been so pronounced that many traditional restaurants have completely revamped and transformed themselves into cloud kitchens.
In the current scenario the world economy has been affected by Covid-19. Indeed, it is a tough time for businesses due to the movement restrictions brought in by the lock down. However, the restaurant business is one of the worst impacted. Besides these measures, Dineout is also planning to launch a platform similar to the one used in Shanghai. Menu and cash are some of the common ways by which a virus spreads. So, a platform, where people can order online and pay online while dining at restaurants, can curb the spread of the virus.
Read about the fastest growing Cloud Kitchen based Bakery here
