We believe in Friendly Ghost Kitchens at Cali BBQ.
Our plans to grow Cali BBQ and Cali BBQ Media were explored in a detailed Restaurant Hospitality feature article. The article also explains why Toast, Inc., Restaurant Accounting Services, Inc. (RASI), and Ovation are primary partners in our restaurant tech stack.
“Technology is enabling restaurants to do things we’ve never done before like opening up a ghost kitchen in San Diego that will cost less than $100,000 to build, that for a brick and mortar I’d have to shell out $1-2 million,” Shawn Walchef said in the Restaurant Hospitality article about the state of the restaurant business as 2020 ended and a new year with new goals kicked off.
How Cali Comfort BBQ is transforming from a full-service restaurant into a commissary servicing 10 ghost kitchens https://t.co/jifK9EyZBt @JoannaFantozzi @CaliComfort pic.twitter.com/aJoAxONtqu
— RH Magazine (@RH_restaurant) January 25, 2021
“That 5,000 square-foot restaurant that realtors are trying to sell me won’t happen but if you convert it into five 1,000 square-foot ghost kitchens it will be way more profitable.”
***
The article by Joanna Fantozzi (Associate Editor for Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality) goes in-depth on our 2020 transformation and the friendly ghost kitchen growth plans on the horizon for 2021:
“At the start of the pandemic, Walchef – who founded Cali Comfort BBQ 13 years ago — had to make the tough decision to lay off more than half of his staff when California went into lockdown,” the Restaurant Hospitality magazine feature reads.
“Then they went into digital transformation mode: adding more third-party delivery partnerships (while adding on Otter to integrate everything), and switching from the Aloha to Toast point of sales system to better handle the increase in off-premise demand.”
READ MORE ON RESTAURANT-HOSPITALITY.COM: https://www.restaurant-hospitality.com/delivery-takeout-solutions/how-cali-comfort-bbq-transforming-full-service-restaurant-commissary
Once Cali Comfort went from 70% in-house dining to digital-only sales, Walchef made further tough decisions with the help of the Restaurant Accounting Services (RASI) partner, like trimming his menu down to what they’re really known for: barbecue. By ditching entire food categories like breakfast and burgers, they were able to cut food costs by 5%.
But the biggest transformation is yet to come. By the end of 2021, Walchef expects to begin construction on converting 60% of his restaurant into a “spoke and wheel” commissary and smokehouse, with a significantly reduced dining room size, and eight smokers doling out Cali BBQ and future concepts from the “spokes” to virtual restaurants that will be opening across the county. With this transformation, Walchef said they will be able to expand their coverage area without resorting to building more restaurants.
“If we’re going all-in on digital then we have to be different. Even if we’re as good as Aaron Franklin’s barbecue, we can’t make someone drive 45 minutes to get to us.”
While they will continue to operate as normal as construction is going on, the redesign will not be finished until early 2022. In the new smokehouse, Walchef said the restaurant will be able to seat 100 people instead of 250 people, and they will also use their new space to record podcasts (which Cali BBQ Media began doing in 2017), produce videos, and host barbecue classes and livestreaming events.
The main smokehouse will be used as the hub to provide food for what Walchef is calling his 10 “friendly ghost kitchens” which will begin opening in 2021, with the first location set to open on Boston Ave. in San Diego in mid-February and two more to follow by the end of the year. Each ghost kitchen will operate multiple brands besides Cali BBQ based on the needs of the surrounding community. For example, the first location will also host a wings concept and another virtual venue to be determined.
“The only way a ghost survives is by listening and responding to community. We know it won’t work unless we’re community based.”
ABOUT RESTAURANT HOSPITALITY
Restaurant Hospitality is a source of business inspiration and industry information for restaurant operators. Independent restaurant operators make up the bulk of the $800 billion foodservice industry in the U.S. Those operators include mom-and-pops with a single unit, emerging young concepts with plans for growth and large multi-million-dollar companies with a diverse portfolio of unique restaurant brands. With nearly a 100-year-history, Restaurant Hospitality is dedicated to serving the needs of those independent operators, giving them inspiration and information about how to run their businesses better.
Learn more online at: https://www.restaurant-hospitality.com/
- Follow Restaurant Hospitality on Twitter at @RH_restaurant
- Email Writer Joanna Fantozzi at joanna.fantozzi@informa.com
- Follow Joanna Fantozzi on Twitter at @JoannaFantozzi
