Ghost restaurant

A ghost restaurant (also known as a delivery-only restaurant or online-only restaurant) is a food service business that serves customers exclusively through online food delivery. Without the need to interact with customers directly on the premises, ghost restaurants can offset the high cost of a delivery system with cheaper real estate and operations.

Although restaurants typically earn more from customers who dine at the restaurant, due to the expense of operating a delivery service or the fees charged by third party delivery companies like Grubhub and Caviar, ghost restaurants have significantly lower overhead. Operating a dining room, with the real estate it requires, staff, amenities, insurance, and other expenses, is a significant cost.^[1] Even restaurants with considerable to-go business traditionally dedicate the majority of their space to seating.^[2] As visibility, curb appeal, foot traffic, and accessibility are not concerns, the kitchen can be housed in an inexpensive location that would not typically be considered desirable for a restaurant.

A single company may operate several ghost restaurants, and a single location's kitchen and staff can function as multiple branded restaurants.^[3] Without a brick-and-mortar location to renovate, companies can also try out new brands and cuisines with little effort, to appeal to changing tastes and trends.^[3][2]

Most of the restaurants utilize existing delivery services. For example, Green Summit, which owns several ghost restaurants in New York City and partners with Grubhub.^[2] Some companies incorporate their own delivery system into the business model, like the New York-based company Maple.^[2][4] Maple, which is backed by restaurateur David Chang, is able to orient its business around productivity in terms of meals per hour per kitchen — a metric more typical of fast food restaurants.^[4]

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