Inspire Brands opens its first ghost kitchen

Alliance Kitchen offers menu items for delivery and takeout from Arby's, Sonic, Jimmy John's, Buffalo Wild Wings and Rusty Taco. 

By Alicia Kelso • Nov. 10, 2021

DoorDash makes major expansion into Europe with $8B acquisition

By acquiring Finland-based Wolt, which operates in 23 countries, DoorDash will be able to build out an international presence without losing focus on the U.S. 

By Julie Littman • Nov. 10, 2021

Reef will offer C3's brands at 800 locations by 2025

The news is an expansion of a previous deal between the two companies to develop 500 units by 2025. C3 brands currently operate out of 125 Reef ghost kitchen vessels. 

By Aneurin Canham-Clyne • Nov. 10, 2021

DoorDash enters Goldbelly's turf, offers nationwide restaurant shipping

The platform's new offering allows diners to order from restaurants and retailers from around the country without a delivery fee. 

By Alicia Kelso • Nov. 8, 2021

Uber Eats' restaurant delivery reaches profitability for first time

The company reinvested its profits into new verticals, allowing it to expand into new areas of delivery, such as baby and kids. 

By Julie Littman • Nov. 8, 2021

Dickey's accelerates expansion with 100 more units through Ghost Kitchen Brands

The barbecue chain continues to partner with ghost kitchen companies to expand its presence in North America. The latest collaboration brings it into Walmart. 

By Alicia Kelso • Nov. 5, 2021

DoorDash adds delivery worker safety features

Following increases in theft and violence against its couriers, DoorDash added SafeDash so these workers can contact an ADT agent to request assistance during situations where they feel unsafe.

By Julie Littman • Nov. 4, 2021

P.F. Chang's wants to offer self-delivery nationwide by 2023

Candice Barnett, VP of off-premise dining, discusses how the service is performing and why staffing a delivery fleet is worth it despite labor pressures. 

By Emma Liem Beckett • Nov. 4, 2021

C3 deploys robot delivery in Los Angeles

Through a partnership with Coco, C3 will offer delivery via bots within two miles of several digital kitchens in the city, with plans to expand into new markets.

By Julie Littman • Oct. 28, 2021

Cracker Barrel debuts Los Angeles ghost kitchen

Cracker Barrel Kitchen will deliver the chain's menu through DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub, and marks the casual chain's entry in the City of Angels. 

By Alicia Kelso • Oct. 26, 2021

TGI Fridays snags sales lift from C3 virtual brand, plans to expand it

The chain began testing Krispy Rice in Orange County, California, and Maryland restaurants, with sales at these units nearly doubling from the first week.

By Alicia Kelso • Oct. 22, 2021

Reef temporarily shuts down modular kitchens in New York City

The ghost kitchen platform's brick-and-mortar stores are still open in the market, and the modular kitchens were voluntarily closed after permits for those units expired, Reef said in a statement. 

By Aneurin Canham-Clyne • Oct. 22, 2021

How 5 new QSR designs optimize the off-premise experience

From multiple drive-thru lanes to GPS-enabled curbside pickup, fast food brands are embracing new designs to create frictionless off-premise channels.

By Julie Littman • Oct. 20, 2021

C3 secures another $10M in funding

With this investment, Creating Culinary Communities also gains access to invitation-only, private capital investor Lurra Capital's global partners to facilitate growth. 

By Alicia Kelso • Oct. 15, 2021

Restaurants need to break past third-party delivery apps

Never underestimate the internal efforts needed to get your organization aligned for digital growth, writes Matt Carinio, VP of strategy and consulting at Hathway.

By Matt Carinio • Oct. 14, 2021

Chick-fil-A customers sue chain over 'deceitful' delivery costs

The proposed class action lawsuit claims that though the QSR promised a flat, low-price delivery fee of $2.99 to $3.99, it charged 25% to 30% more for food ordered online for delivery than food ordered in-store or for pickup. 

By Julie Littman • Oct. 13, 2021

DoorDash beefs up ad capabilities for restaurants, CPG brands

The delivery platform is working to generate additional revenue as its growth slows from the highs reached during the pandemic's peak.

By Chris Kelly • Oct. 12, 2021

How host kitchens are propelling virtual brands forward

Despite the rapid expansion, many experts question whether delivery-only concepts have long-term sustainability.

By Julie Littman • Oct. 11, 2021

TGI Fridays will launch 300 ghost kitchens with Reef Technology

This is Reef's first deal with a global casual chain, which comes just a few months after the firm announced major expansion plans with 800 Degrees Pizza and Wendy's. 

By Alicia Kelso • Oct. 8, 2021

Reef Technology acquires logistics partner Bond

The acquisition strengthens Reef's distribution capacity, which will now include Bond's last-mile delivery nano-warehouses.

By Emma Liem Beckett , Aneurin Canham-Clyne • Oct. 7, 2021

Want to expand through host kitchens? Here's what you need to know.

Brands should keep in mind how they plan to maintain consistency in food quality and the customer experience.

By Julie Littman • Oct. 7, 2021

ChowNow launches Order Better Network

The commission-free, online ordering platform can now connect restaurants to more than a dozen channels for delivery and takeout orders, including Yelp, OpenTable and Snapchat. 

By Alicia Kelso • Oct. 5, 2021

All Day Kitchens receives $65M in funding for expansion

This latest round of funding brings the total money raised by the ghost kitchen platform to $102.5 million since its founding in 2018. 

By Alicia Kelso • Oct. 4, 2021

Recipe for revenue: Why restaurants are becoming host kitchens

Restaurants are leveraging unused kitchen capacity to facilitate the delivery of other brands and rake in extra cash.

By Julie Littman • Oct. 4, 2021

Reef Technology to open 500 ghost kitchens with 800 Degrees Pizza

The deal, which will add units in the U.S., Canada and international markets, comes less than two months after Reef partnered with Wendy's to open 700 kitchens.  

By Aneurin Canham-Clyne • Sept. 30, 2021