Recently, I was working from home in Eagle Rock, feeling hungry but trying to meet a deadline for LAist, so I decided to grab a quick lunch at a recommended sushi place called Rice and Nori.
I was new to the area and rely on Google Maps for everything, which led me to an address on Colorado Avenue in Pasadena.
But when we got there, we were in front of what looked like a liquor store and a small auto shop — you know, the classic red and black bold lettering with racer stripes on the exterior — and absolutely nothing resembling a restaurant.
But Google Maps insisted that this auto shop (possibly a warehouse) was actually where my lunch was being prepared, and the sign above the door read “Allied Food To-Go.” So I took a deep breath and went inside.
What I found was something like an Amazon locker meets a hot dog stand: There were no staff, no tables, in fact no seats at all. Instead, there were white lockers to the left that reached all the way to the ceiling, and a desk on top of them with a tablet on it.
I lost track of where I was, and although there was a robotic human attendant putting food in my locker, talking to strangers is in my top ten least favorite things, so I decided to get in on my own.
Food will be picked up from lockers at CloudKitchen locations.
The tablet had a choice of 15 restaurants and after scrolling through the menus of birria and Mediterranean dishes, I found Rice and Nori on the last screen and chose what I wanted to eat.
I stood awkwardly by my locker, memories of middle school flooding back to me, wondering what was going to happen next.
Two robots from Allied Food To-Go prepare to deliver food to lockers.
A few minutes later, I got a text message. Apparently my order was ready at locker D2. I pressed a button on my phone and like the gates of heaven it opened automatically, and there my spicy tuna rice balls and edamame were. (I was looking in the other direction, but I'm pretty sure one of the robots had put them there. I later found out the robots were named Rosie and Johnny.)
Already the space was filled with delivery people scurrying to pick up orders, and still confused and still hungry, I drove off quickly, trying to make sense of what had happened.
Is this normal in Pasadena? Again, I'm a newbie.
What is a Ghost Kitchen?
When I got home, I Googled Allied Food To-Go and discovered that it's a ghost kitchen, a commercial kitchen where multiple vendors prepare food ordered online for takeout or delivery. Perfect for the digital age, customers and drivers typically use a tablet to pick up their orders, with no interaction with an employee required.
Allied Food To Go is Cloud KitchenA large company (co-founder of Uber) that operates multi-vendor ghost kitchens in cities like Los Angeles, Miami, and New York. Travis Kalanick invests According to its Los Angeles website (which was founded a few years ago), CloudKitchens currently operates 11 ghost kitchens in places like Long Beach and Koreatown.
I tried to contact CloudKitchens but was unsuccessful; I could only reach one location, in Echo Park, which declined to comment.
How does it work?
Ghost kitchens have proliferated during the pandemic. Restaurateurs switched to delivery only Public safety concerns have led to scale back on customer-facing operations, and by closing stores and switching to low-cost ghost kitchens, they've also cut costs, a new model that could prove popular even after the pandemic.
I caught up with Rice & Nori partner George Shenefeldt to find out more, who told me that they initially partnered with CloudKitchens to try out other concepts (but haven't done so yet), but the locations got too busy to serve anything beyond their staple dishes.
Most ghost kitchens work the same way: Food vendors pay a fee to a ghost kitchen operator (either a company like CloudKitchens or an individual) to use the space. The price varies depending on the size of the space, the type of equipment, and whether additional storage is needed. According to the CloudKitchens website:.
The exterior of DTLA Kitchens, an independent commercial kitchen in Southeast Los Angeles.
Courtesy of Yuri Amselm
)
Another fee will be added for utilities and general operating costs, such as the employees (or robots) needed to transport food from the kitchen to customers.
Vendors are given individual or shared kitchen space to prepare and cook their food, with a vendor's workspace typically located next to those of other local vendors who are renting the same ghost kitchen.
On food delivery apps, these all appear as different restaurants, but in the same location, and the only way to tell if a delivery is from a ghost kitchen is to look up the vendor's address or drive there.
Ordering delivery at the end of a long day is a reality for most people, so you're unlikely to wander into a ghost kitchen like I did.
Struggling without a store
While ghost kitchens are a good way for restaurants to save money, they do come with some drawbacks, and Shenefelt said he finds it difficult to staff ghost kitchens.
“It feels like a prison,” he said.The space has no windows and is just about 200 square feet, alienating many employees who want a more interactive work experience.
Another big drawback: Without a physical storefront, new restaurants can struggle to find customers. Rice & Nori has been around since 2018 and has two stores and an Instagram following. But others are less established.
Janet Kang originally started Pizza Baby as a ghost kitchen, but she quit her lease last September because sales were too low. With rent and utility payments, she had no spare cash to spend on marketing to attract customers.
Whether or not using ghost kitchens is ultimately profitable “comes down to money,” she said: “Do you have enough cash reserves to stay open long enough to get noticed?”
An inside look at a commercial kitchen available for rent at DTLA Kitchens.
Courtesy of Yuri Amselm
)
Winston Shipp, Quesadillas, Mia! He had a similar experience: He started out renting space at a delivery-only cloud kitchen during the pandemic, but hardly anyone knew about their brand.
“You're at the mercy of people looking for food on the app,” said Shipp, who has left cloud kitchens behind and rents ghost kitchens for a limited number of hours a week rather than having a permanent space.
Shipp sees ghost kitchens as an ideal option for already successful restaurants that want to transition from brick-and-mortar to delivery, allowing kitchen staff to focus on dine-in customers and preventing long lines and wait times.
but, DTLA Kitchenwhose Southeast Los Angeles commercial kitchens have been used as ghost kitchens and other businesses like filming, sees the ghost kitchens as a “great start” for small businesses. “We're an incubator,” he told LAist. Vendors will eventually open their own brick-and-mortar locations here.
Would it be better to just order one?
If you're hungry and want to be sure you get lunch, ghost kitchens are the way to go: dine-in customers won't disturb the kitchen, and your food will be delivered straight to your door, or you can collect it from an automated locker.
But if it's your first time at a restaurant and you need advice on what to order, opt for a brick-and-mortar restaurant, where employees can help inform you of various preferences, such as taste, spiciness level, or whether the dish you want to order contains gluten.
Five Rice and Nori hand-rolled sushi rolls with a variety of fillings from cucumber to spicy salmon, wrapped in your choice of nori or soy paper.
Courtesy of George Shenefeldt
)
Plus, nothing beats a great atmosphere while dining.
So, would I go back to ghost kitchens?
perhaps.
The rice and seaweed I ordered from Allied Food To-Go was tasty and the food quality was fine, it came in a sealed container and even came with extra soy sauce and chopsticks.
But at the end of the day, I prefer to dine with friends in a bustling restaurant, and a ghost kitchen just can't replace that.
Have a question about Southern California?
