Explore the benefits of ghost kitchens in Orange County

Ghost kitchens, also known as dark kitchens or virtual kitchens, are commercial kitchens built for food delivery. They’re located within the delivery radius of a high volume of online customers, rather than high foot traffic areas. With ghost kitchens, there’s no physical storefront or dining area, so you only need a few back-of-house staff members to fulfill online orders.

In a ghost kitchen, your restaurant is focused on delivery rather than dine-in. When eaters order your food online, you’ll prepare it from your ghost kitchen, and hand it off to a fulfillment team to get the order over to the right delivery driver. This gives restaurateurs a low cost, high efficiency model to get the most out of delivery.

Yes, ghost kitchens can be profitable. Ghost kitchens allow restaurateurs to increase profitability by maintaining the essential elements of a restaurant while cutting costs on labor, overhead, and wasted food while reaching a higher volume of customers ordering online. Plus, you can run multiple virtual brands out of a single ghost kitchen to increase revenue without the extra overhead.

Ghost kitchens are rising in popularity because they’re a lower cost alternative to operating a traditional restaurant. They’re also focused on delivery, which has grown 300% faster than dine-in since 2014. That means restaurateurs are using ghost kitchens to future-proof their business and accelerate growth.

Ghost kitchens help restaurateurs grow their business by doing delivery right. The way we dine has changed, and ghost kitchens allow restaurant operators to capture food delivery demand without sacrificing their bottom line. They’re also a great way to expand to new markets without spending time and money on a traditional restaurant buildout. You can easily expand your restaurant brand to different cities across the country such as Los Angeles or New York.

The cost of ghost kitchens varies by market, space, and services. Compared to a traditional restaurant, they’re a much lower cost alternative on both upfront capital and ongoing operating costs. You can get started in a ghost kitchen with as little as $30K, instead of $1M+ for brick and mortar buildout.

Culinary businesses based in Orange County need to follow the California Retail Food Code, the Sherman Food, Drug, and Labeling Law, and the Cottage Food Law. In addition, your ghost kitchen will need to be properly permitted, inspected, and in adherence to the California Health and Safety Code.

We know, there are a lot of boxes to check. Never fear - when you partner with CloudKitchens, you gain access to a team of experts who can help guide you through the logistics. Meanwhile, you get to focus on the fun stuff - the food.

Opening a restaurant can be expensive, especially in an affluent area like Orange County. Luckily, our Orange County ghost kitchens can be up and running for as little as $30k.

Orange County is a vast and sprawling area with many potential customer bases. Appeal to long-time locals, outdoorsy tourists, and anyone enjoying the sunshine on the weekend with a top location by the coast, from Huntington Beach down to Laguna Beach. Other major attractions include the buzzing tourist and family scene near Disneyland Park in Anaheim and the young, tech-savvy crows at UC Irvine.