MOD Kitchen aims to revolutionize Richmond's restaurant scene, bringing together 10 eateries under one roof.
As business costs rise, a group of Richmond entrepreneurs is offering a low-cost solution for running restaurants.
MOD Kitchen is bringing the “cloud kitchen” concept to Richmond. Rather than owning a separate restaurant, multiple business owners prepare food for takeout or delivery in designated areas in a shared facility. Cloud kitchens are sometimes also called “ghost kitchens” or “commissary kitchens.”
“Compared to 10 years ago, real estate prices are ridiculously high and commodity prices have gone up substantially,” said Tony Ferreira, co-founder of MOD Kitchen.
“Restaurants are already a very low-margin business, and with rising salaries and minimum wages on top of that, there's very little left at the end of the day. So we thought, why not try the cloud-kitchen model?”
He said the model allows new entrepreneurs to test out restaurant ideas without investing a lot of capital, since they share rent with other businesses and require a much smaller team. It also offers an option for experienced restaurateurs who want to scale down.
“A lot of independent businesses don't want to worry about the day-to-day running of things like over-staffing, they don't want to worry about, 'Are my spaces going to be filled?' We can help give them a little peace of mind,” Ferreira said.
The store near Ironwood Plaza in southeast Richmond is currently being renovated and is scheduled to open in December and will have 10 kitchens and one public milk tea shop, with five kitchen spaces already filled and some big-name brands, Ferreira said.
The stores will have front desk staff to handle ordering and dishwashing services, and in addition to delivery, they will also offer kiosk pick-up service and ordering via their website and social media.
“At MOD Kitchen, [vendors] “By being able to buy in bulk and leveraging product suppliers, we pay less for the items we order,” Ferreira says.
“I think it's a really great idea to bring 10 individual vendors together in one place. It's like a one-stop shop where you and your family, your significant other or your friends can order different types of food under the roof of MOD Kitchen.”
Ferreira said the cloud kitchen concept has been around for a while, but he and his co-founders saw an increased need for them as the pandemic changed many people's eating habits, food delivery skyrocketed and people wanted better value for their money.
Ferreira, an experienced chef and restaurateur who grew up in Richmond and spent the last few years in Hong Kong, said he was excited to contribute to Richmond's culinary diversity.
“You see new restaurants opening up in Richmond all the time; [we believe] They are quite adventurous and will be quite open to things like cloud kitchens,” he said.
“Richmond has given us so much growing up, and when we came up with this idea, we thought it would really bring the Richmond community together, especially Richmond food vendors.”
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