You’ve probably heard about Ghost Kitchens recently, but what about Friendly Ghost Kitchens?
Ghost Kitchens are food brands without a brick-and-mortar location. Think of them like digital restaurants that sell food online for takeout/delivery out of centralized pickup locations.
As we expand into more Cali BBQ San Diego locations, our goal is to operate each of our new spots as “Friendly Ghost Kitchens.”
What is a Ghost Kitchen?
A friendly ghost kitchen is hyper-focused on convenience because takeout and delivery are the only options for dining and customers should still be able to get a fun, easy food experience.
A friendly ghost kitchen also uses social media and digital hospitality online to build a community of loyal guests through transparently posting content about the process.
Cali BBQ’s San Diego ghost kitchen plans were explored in a recent Restaurant Hospitality feature article:
“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.”
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.”
