The Ghost Kitchen Deep Dive Sessions

Over the past year, the restaurant industry has changed at an unprecedented pace as the continued rise of food delivery apps and a worldwide pandemic have permanently altered the terrain for everyone in the business, whether it be that mom & pop place on the corner or a worldwide quick service chain.

To navigate these changes, restaurants have had to rethink the mix of in-venue dining and off-premise and explore new formats and strategies that can enable them to be nimble when unexpected shocks - like government lockdowns - hit their business.

The ghost kitchen, which had already an emerging trend prior to the pandemic, has fast become one of the most talked-about concepts in the restaurant business in 2020. Industry players ranging from well-established chains to food delivery specialists to new ghost kitchen operators are experimenting with new ghost kitchen and virtual restaurant models.

To explore the implications of these changes and hear from those pioneering these businesses, The Spoon held a day-long event discussing business models, operational strategies and lessons learned called the Ghost Kitchen Deep Dive. We talked about virtual restaurants, ghost kitchen operations and even took a tour of a next-generation ghost kitchen, delivery and take-out hub built in Boise, Idaho.

Speakers featured in these deep dive conversations include:

• Andy Wiederhorn, Fat Brands (Fat Burger) CEO
• Atul Sood, Kitchen United COO
• Bader Ataya Kitopi Chief Revenue Officer
• Nabeel Alamgir, CEO of Lunchbox
• Nick Avedesian, CEO, Bolt Kitchens
• Alex Canter, CEO, Ordermark/Nextbite
• Carl Segal Reef COO, Reef
• Scott Absher, CEO, ShiftPixy
• Geoff Alexander, CEO Wow Bao
• Kristin Barnett, COO Zuul
• Nili Malach Poynter, CEO ChefReady
• Kristen Hawley, Writer, Expedite
• Michael Wolf, CEO, The Spoon
• Jenn Marston, Editor, The Spoon

 

Below are the sessions from the Ghost Kitchen Deep Dive. If you are a Spoon Plus subscriber, you can watch these in full. If you would like to access these sessions, you can subscribe to Spoon Plus here.