Who you gonna call? Ghost kitchens prove to be a good answer to a few perplexing problems college dining is facing right now: how to compete with the hyper-convenient, virtual world of food that’s serving students when, where and how they want it.

Beyond the standard pivots, such as delivery and curbside, Mangiamele realized he had to think beyond day-to-day tactics at his company, Legendary Brands, which also holds the rights to Steak & Ale.

Wow Bao has teamed up with Fazoli’s in Walker, Muskegon, Kalamazoo and Battle Creek to offer its beloved steamed dumplings, potstickers and rice bowls, starting this past weekend.

The brand’s new ghost kitchen opened on Jan. 28 with its first-ever subscription service. Guests can now order “The Greens” – signature salads – or “It’s A Wrap” – signature wraps – through coolgreensfl.com on a weekly basis.

Wingstop continues toward its goal of digitizing 100% of its transactions and is building upon its digital infrastructure, appointing a new chief technology officer in May and opening its first domestic kitchen in June.

Inspire Brands Inc. is opening a $2.6 million delivery and catering-only restaurant in Atlanta, according to a building permit filed by the company.

Over-the-top french fry and burritos stuffed with Flamin’ Hot Cheetos will soon burst into Chicago thanks to a fast-growing San Francisco Bay-area virtual restaurant chain.

Dog Haus Gourmet has opened a virtual restaurant in Austin, Texas, according to a press release. "This is our second Dog Haus location in the city, but it's the first in Central Austin," Franchisee Michael Kim said in the release.

Clyde's Restaurant Group, a Graham Holdings Company subsidiary, announced the formation of Clyde's Kitchens, a collection of virtual restaurants offering carryout-only menus.

Within several months, TLC grew at an accelerated speed and can now be found at major cities all across the nation; from LA to New York, Miami to Chicago, and many more.

Chicago-based Foodhaul is a digital platform that partners with chefs to create menus for delivery-only virtual restaurant brands.

As it diversifies beyond its formative days as a Manhattan ghost kitchen, Zuul is now moving into the restaurant technology space with the release of its ZuulOS that helps operators manage multi-brand restaurant and ghost kitchen operations.

Online ordering and delivery platform Olo is aiming to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering, according to securities filings.

Jaydeep Barman is the Co-Founder and CEO of Mumbia-based Rebel Foods, The World's Largest Internet Restaurant with 320 ghost kitchens in three continents powering over 26 native and third-party brands like Wendy's.

As the hospitality industry looks for ways to help restaurants survive today’s tough landscape, the concept of “ghost kitchens” is getting more attention from mainstream media.

A fantastic summary of the dichotomy between ghost kitchens and virtual brands, including a precise list of their pro's and con's.

Big Rube doesn’t have a traditional brick-and-mortar establishment—at least not yet. Instead, Rube cooks up his brand of gourmet grub in two ghost kitchens, each of which is about 350 square feet.

As Bay Area restaurants turn to the model to stay afloat during COVID-19, some are finding new customers and unexpected success.

Even before the virus, online delivery trends were revolutionizing the restaurant industry. As a result, restaurants are looking for ways to capture more off-premises business, directing national chains and mom-and-pop restaurants to ghost kitchens.

The chef’s efforts speak to a larger trend in the New York dining world, with several restaurateurs setting up similar operations in the past few years. Indeed, Mr. Becker rents his facility from Zuul, a New York-based ghost-kitchen company that has other restaurant tenants in the same Soho space.

Are you considering operating a ghost kitchen? Are you wondering what laws apply to this business model? Let’s examine the most important laws that impact your ghost kitchen business.

This week’s episode of the RB podcast “A Deeper Dive” features a discussion between editors Jonathan Maze and Joe Guszkowski on what virtual brands mean for the restaurant business.

Virtual restaurant brands – brands that have a full menu, but don’t exist in their own space and typically share kitchens with other businesses – have been well-received by customers due to third-party delivery options and the variety of food available from ghost kitchens.

You probably didn’t know that many of the restaurants you order from online are actually invisible. What does that even mean? Don’t worry, Casper isn’t coming for your kitchen.

Recently, it was revealed celebrity chef Guy Fieri was launching Guy Fieri’s Flavortown Kitchen, a delivery-only virtual restaurant with no physical locations. This may sound like a pretty wild way to open a restaurant, but he’s in good company in the COVID era, when supporting chefs and restaurants while avoiding crowds is of great interest.

Ghost kitchens have been meticulously engineered to be infinitely adaptable and fantastically efficient. But what they really are is a trend that manages, triumphantly, to strip away all joy from the act of eating. They are devoid of every feature that makes restaurants great, and they are not, despite what the many, many headlines say, the true future of the restaurant industry.

Restaurant technology will be a differentiator. We are in the early innings of what restaurants can do by leveraging technology. The first iteration has brought us the dominance of Domino’s, online reputation management, online ordering and loyalty, and third-party delivery.