Dickey’s Barbecue Pit is taking over as the next big deal in the virtual concept space with the launch of its newest delivery-only brand.

Chief Brand Officer Doug Willmarth created a virtual concept — Stir Fry Chef — available now from 36 Genghis Grill locations. By July, all 50 locations will offer the delivery- and carry-out only concept.

Cotton Patch Cafe, a Texas-inspired, homestyle restaurant serving Southern classics, today announced the opening of its first ghost kitchen, located in Garland’s Revolving Kitchen, a virtual food hall.

The food products giant is collaborating with Nextbite to serve customers in Buffalo starting Tuesday. Rich Products will prepare the meals at its headquarters kitchen, to fulfill orders customers place digitally through Nextbite's virtual-only restaurants.

Walchef founded the casual concept Cali BBQ more than a dozen years ago, and in 2017 he added a media component with the Digital Hospitality podcast. Now, the pandemic has led Cali BBQ to expand into the digital realm with ghost kitchens.

Five Guys opened their first ghost kitchen in the US that has no dining room and only cooks food for delivery. Guests can only get food from the Garland, Texas location when ordering takeaway from the Five Guys website or app, or through a third-party delivery service such as DoorDash, Grubhub, or Uber Eats.

A fight over a ghost kitchen might stymie the return of Flint’s Barbecue.

As Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises (LEYE) marks its fiftieth year in business, president RJ Melman doesn’t see any signs of slowing down. The multiconcept operator has over 150 restaurants in several states across the country ranging from fast-casual to fine-dining and, during the pandemic, brought some closed concepts back as virtual restaurants.

C3, a food tech platform operating ghost kitchens, will introduce Saudi Arabia to 40 restaurant brands via a $100 million deal with the country's investment house, WK Holding.

PlantX Life Inc. is pleased to announce that is has entered into a partnership to open a new PlantX branded “ghost kitchen”, which is a cooking facility used only to deliver meals, in Los Angeles, California.

Virtual kitchens are growing in reach. Where once the launch of a single new ghost kitchen was something to be talked about, nowadays restaurants are unveiling plans to open 10 — or even several hundred — of them at a time as they discover the full potential of this burgeoning business model.

Our only interaction with one of the virtual ‘brands’ inside a ghost kitchen is through a food-tech platform. They need not advertise or popularize their brands outside of the platform, if they want to keep their operations limited.

The robotics industry is at an inflection point where the baton is being passed from the scientists to the practitioners. In historical terms, we are witnessing the Edisons of the world harness the innovations of the likes of Faraday to create life changing businesses and wealth.

As new restaurant models gain momentum, they’re not only top-of-mind for industry folks—they will become top-of-mind for consumers too. Insiders may tolerate the muddle for a while, but confusing consumers hurts the restaurant space as a whole. In an industry where consumers demand transparency and trustworthiness, spooky kitchen terms invite suspicion.