We live in times when the digital world and particularly the internet rule supreme. These are times when we can hardly imagine our lives without online channels. The online space has brought a sea change in our day-to-day lives, leaving its mark on almost any sector we can conceive of. And this includes kitchens too. You will already be aware of the domination of food ordering apps.
With the cloud, kitchens have emerged and are undoubtedly here to stay in times to come. If you plan to start a restaurant or a business dealing with food and beverage, cloud kitchen is something you surely must not ignore. However, before we delve further, let us begin by understanding what cloud kitchens are.
What is a Cloud kitchen?
If you have been keeping track of the restaurant sector, you might already have come across the terms Cloud Kitchen. Have you wondered what it is?
Putting it in simple words, a cloud kitchen, which is also known as a virtual kitchen or the ghost kitchen, is a commercial space that provides the facilities and services needed for food preparation. It helps businesses create their menu items and deliver them with minimal overhead costs; it also allows consumers more accessibility than if they were located in one spot because there are many locations nationwide!
Some of the Cloud Kitchen models are:
- Brand-Owned Cloud Kitchen
- Dine-in With a Separate In-Location Delivery Production Line
- A Dine-In Brand Operating from One (or More) Shared Kitchen Locations
- Hub & Spoke
- Multiple Virtual Brands In a Shared or Business-Owned Kitchen
- Shell Kitchen /w Outsourced Food Prep/Delivery/Support
CloudKitchen Brands in USA:
- Franklin Junction
- Kitchen United
- Nextbite
- Reef Technology
- Virturant
- Virtual Kitchen Co
- DoorDash Kitchens
- CloudKitchens
CloudKitchen Brands in India:
Benefits of cloud kitchens for businesses
- Low Overheads
- Better Efficiency
- Access to user data and real-time adaptability
- Digital brand awareness without high marketing spend
- Savings on infrastructure
- Reduction in service time
- More contextual customer data
- Flexibility in menu
- Higher margins and competitive pricing
- Better expansion opportunities
- Affordable Startup Cost
- Added Convenience
- Optimized Delivery Experience
- Meeting Customer Demand
- Increased Reach
The estimated trends of the food delivery sector
Even more exciting is UBS expects the food delivery market to grow exponentially more than ten times in a ten-year time frame. Recent trends reveal that food delivery business orders expanded by over 150% from 2019 to 2020. If we take into account estimates, it is predicted to increase rapidly by over ten times in the next ten years.
Therefore, the food delivery business offers a promising future. However, to tap into the massive growth, you need to align your food business with the latest trends. Going by the studies, it is time that you consider cloud kitchen as your next step to revolutionize your food & beverages business. And opting for cloud kitchens could indeed be your next vital step.
Who uses Cloud Kitchens?
If you want to know who uses cloud kitchens, the answer is simple. If you are a food entrepreneur or want to start up your online delivery food business, then cloud kitchens are now the ideal solution. It has immense potential, and it can easily be the next big step that can take your recently started food business to a whole new level. So let us try and understand how cloud kitchens work. Here are a few business types that incorporate ghost kitchens for their business strategy:
- Delivery-Optimized Restaurants,
- Caterers, Meal Prep Companies,
- Packaged Food Producers,
- Food Product Testing.
Consumers are already ordering from cloud kitchens through food delivery apps, without realizing they are ordering from a cloud kitchen.
How do Cloud Kitchens Work?
As already explained earlier, a cloud kitchen is a commercial food production facility that allows for cooking delivery-optimized menu items. One or two people can run these restaurants in an industrial warehouse. They have dozens of kitchens across different brands operating under one roof at any given time, depending on how they are set up. These stations have prepped ingredients coming directly from customers who order them through online ordering platforms such as Grub hub or authenticated users only.
Menus are optimized
Cloud kitchen menu things are advanced for simplicity of creation and dependability of food quality upon conveyance. Frequently situated in modern skyscrapers, cloud kitchens might offer driver stopping, driver holding up regions (regularly with screens to screen request times), and registration stations for consistent driver get. All intended to get food out the entryway and into the client’s hands as quickly as could be expected.
Cloud Kitchens are usually high-tech enabled. They take advantage of the very advanced food delivery apps. All the data is pooled to determine what type of food is to be produced and for which neighborhood. All in all, it is a full-proof food business model that enables business owners to build a more predictable food business. Another savings is the rent. In a typical restaurant, they pay 15-20% of revenue for a high visibility location. Cloud kitchens are operated away from high traffic areas and the rent is around 3-5% of revenue, increasing the profitability.
Thus, you would have noted that when it comes to the success of the food business in the current scenario, the menus you choose to cater to serve as the very foundation of it.
How to use NetMenus for Cloud Kitchen?
iScripts NetMenus is an Online Restaurant Delivery Software. Specific web-based platforms enable restaurants, not just in the physical realm but online and mobile too. The innovative system they offer provides you, as a food entrepreneur, with an easy way to start accepting orders from your customers at any time of day or night. Your restaurant can be set up within minutes through this one convenient method by utilizing its back-end features like ordering products off the menu and generating reports on inventory levels which will allow owners more insight than ever before about what’s going wrong when it comes down to quality control measures.
Normally the food delivery app commission can cost as much as 20-30% of the top line. Utilizing a platform like iScripts Netmenus you can save a big chunk of it.
The best part is that you can use various models depending on the nature of the food business. These are as follows:
Single Restaurant Model
Restaurant owners who want to stay ahead of the game should consider setting up online ordering. It is a powerful system that allows customers and potential patrons alike to send orders directly into your restaurant! Not only will you be able to meet increased demand but also gain an edge over other competitors. The reason is that it offers many benefits not seen before, such as better marketing reach due in part to uploading images or videos right onto their website, which could potentially attract new visitors looking specifically at what sells.
Multi-Location Model
If your restaurant has multiple locations, then you can use NetMenus. If your restaurant chain has to increase production and revenue, this open-source script is the best solution. The admin of the site can set up online ordering for many locations. It’s a highly competitive model that helps to improve the restaurant services.
GrubHub Model
The Grubhub model is a revolutionary way to order your favorite food in style. With the Grubhub model, you can get anything from takeout or delivery at any restaurant within range of where the customer lives and works – all without having ever stepped foot into that establishment! The site offers an automated ordering process with many options for customization, such as selecting what type of cuisine they would like delivered and so on.
Conclusion
To conclude, we hope that we have been able to explain the potential of cloud kitchens. It offers a great business potential that you can tap into and build a profitable food business.
