[FR] How to make your dark kitchen a real success?

In the world of fast food, the last few years have seen the emergence of a concept that is rapidly gaining popularity in major cities around the world: the dark kitchen.

Whether you want to start your own, or optimise the efficiency of the one you already run, you’ve come to the right place.

Here we reveal the keys to making your dark kitchen even more successful, and to overcoming the challenges of competing on home delivery platforms!

What is a dark kitchen?

Also known as a ghost kitchen, a dark kitchen is a kitchen entirely dedicated to home delivery. There is no restaurant room and no customers are allowed to eat in the kitchen.

Dark kitchens are closely linked to order aggregation platforms such as Uber Eats or Deliveroo. They often rely on these platforms’ fleet of home delivery drivers to deliver their food to consumers.

This type of “restaurateur” is generally found in city centres to be able to deliver quickly to customers in urban areas. A dark kitchen can be focused on a single food brand (as is the case with Frichti since its launch), or it can offer several types of cuisine to meet different consumer demands.

What are the advantages and limitations of a dark kitchen?

If the dark kitchen concept has been gaining momentum in the French restaurant industry in recent years, it is because it offers a significant advantage: it reduces the costs of the typical restaurant in terms of staff, premises and maintenance of the premises.

The dark kitchen thus represents a very efficient business model, with margins that are much higher than those of a traditional restaurant.

However, opening a ghost kitchen is not without risks either. Indeed, with this type of food business :

• The restaurateur must deploy a large marketing budget, to get his brand known, given the great competition on home delivery platforms.
• He often depends on ordering applications, and must leave them large commissions in exchange for being listed on these platforms.

5 keys to making your dark kitchen hyper-efficient

Are you thinking of opening a dark kitchen, or do you want to boost the performance of the one you already run? Discover here 5 business, marketing and logistic keys to make it attractive and successful.

Speed up order picking

The speed of your order preparation is one of the essential keys to the economic success of your dark kitchen. To be able to deliver dishes that are at a temperature that allows your customers to consume them directly, you need to plan for your orders to be ready in five minutes, and delivered in ten to twenty minutes afterwards.

One of the techniques used by ghost kitchens to achieve this is to prepare the food in advance. Then, as soon as an order arrives, all your cooks have to do is assemble the various ingredients, heat them up, and package them.

Set up ergonomic order picking stations

The second way to speed up your order preparation is to ensure that the food preparation and packaging stations are as ergonomic as possible. Indeed, fast order picking means thatall the elements needed by the pickers must be as accessible as possible.

Make sure that your dark kitchen is organised so that each station (where the meals are prepared, where the products are packed and where the orders are made available to the delivery staff) is well optimised. Make sure that each of these stations is easily accessible by your staff… while respecting food safety, of course.

Use packaging to speed up your production even more

What if food packaging became your best ally in speeding up your dark kitchen?

The key is to choose food packaging that is easy to assemble and fill. Whenever possible, always choose food packaging that is specifically designed for the type of food you deliver.

Some examples of inspiring packaging:

Offer attractive menus

It is difficult to stand out from the competition on home delivery platforms! To face this challenge, you must first work on proposing differentiating menus, based on the expectations of gourmet consumers.

It is crucial that you can offer your customers to taste flavours that are out of the ordinary. For example, why not include options in your menus that allow you to customise your dishes with specific chilli levels, sauces or ingredients? Or create offers adapted to different times of the day, such as snack time or aperitif time with the new plancha box kit?

Your objective is simple: to delight all taste buds, without cutting back on the quality of the food offered.

Differentiate yourself by customising your packaging

Another smart idea to differentiate yourself from the competition is to customise your takeaway food packaging with your brand colours. The idea is to create a real visual identity around your dark kitchen that stays with you after delivery.

You can do this by customising your kraft paper bags or food packaging with your logo, slogan or any other element of your graphic identity.

To do this, simply visit the RAJAPrint food packaging customisation tool and start customising your packaging online.

Create a real brand image for your dark kitchen to build customer loyalty

When launching a dark kitchen, building customer loyalty can be complex, as you are so dependent on the restaurant’s visibility on delivery apps. This is where creating a fully-fledged brand image for your establishment becomes essential.

To do this:

• Dedicate a good part of your marketing budget to communication, be it on social networks, or to make your product sheets more attractive on the platforms.
• Take care of theunboxing of your products, by selecting packaging that enhances the value of your dishes and allows them to be delivered in excellent condition.
• Create a real customer experience witheco-responsible food packaging: your customers expect nothing less from the brands they buy from!

Some examples ofeco-friendly food packaging to inspire you:

So, are you ready to see the orders pouring into your dark kitchen, and to build lasting customer loyalty?