With ghost kitchens now a mainstay in the restaurant biz, it’s only ever been a matter of time before someone took the concept and applied it to the bar scene. Two NYC restaurant owners did just that recently with the opening of Ghost Bar, an online cocktail bar now available to certain parts of Manhattan.
In a press release sent to The Spoon, Ghost Bar’s owners said the point of their concept is to provide specialty cocktails users can get delivered to their own homes in roughly the same amount of time (or less) it would take to get an order from, say Grubhub.
Speaking of Grubhub, users can either order drinks from that service, Postmates, and HungryPanda, or from Ghost Bar’s own website. Where the ghost kitchen concept comes into play is with the bar’s centralized (and undisclosed) location, where cocktails are made and bottled to order before going out for delivery. The concept isn’t terribly different from ordering a juice or smoothie and getting it delivered to your doorstep, something New Yorkers have done for years.
Ghost bar menu items range from classics (old fashioned, sidecar) to in-house specialty drinks, to some beer and wine. Drinks start at $12, which is on par with what you’d pay for a well-crafted cocktail at a Manhattan bar. However, this being a delivery-only operation, users will also need factor service fees and tip into the cost of their drink. Ghost Bar also adds a $5 delivery fee. Whether the bottle sizes are larger than the average cocktail is unclear, as Ghost Bar doesn’t list bottle size in ounces.
That’s not a cheap way to grab a couple of cocktails, so if you’re planning on drinking a lot in a single evening, consider other options. However, for smaller gatherings or random Tuesday nights when you just want a freshly made fancy drink, the concept could prove popular, at least with the folks that can afford to spend $30-plus bucks on a couple drinks.
Currently, Ghost Bar delivers to 66th Street and below in Manhattan from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. The concept will expand to all of Manhattan and tri-bourough areas in the coming months.
