What Is the Idea Behind a Dark Kitchen?
Dark kitchens: the solution to kitchen inefficiencies and high operational costs.
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Why Rent a Dark Kitchen in Singapore?
A dark kitchen is a kitchen space where no dine-in customers are served. It is often tucked away in more residential and quieter neighbourhoods and cooks food to either supplement another dine-in restaurant elsewhere or, more commonly, be delivered on third-party delivery platforms straight to the customer’s door.
The dark kitchen, as an idea, has existed in Singapore and around the globe for some years now, but in recent years, it has seen an explosion in popularity. The food delivery boom, driven by our changing habits and the success of delivery companies like Deliveroo, foodpanda, and GrabFood, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, has encouraged more and more food entrepreneurs to try their hand in the dark kitchen world. But what is it that’s so attractive about them?
How Are Dark Kitchens a More Efficient Option for F&B Business Owners in Singapore?
Dark kitchen solutions have become a disrupter in the food and beverage industry, especially here in Singapore. This is because of shifts in consumer behaviour coupled with technological advancements, all of which were expedited by the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, just months after the dine-in ban in Singapore, 73% of customers reported spending more than usual on food delivery services, resulting in up to a whopping 30% increase in demand. Third-party delivery companies are witnessing explosive growth and a surge in rider applications because of this. Those who pivoted into dark kitchens early on had the right idea, as they were able to capture much of this growing market.
Present-day restaurants are designed around the dine-in experience. For many, a delivery service is merely appendaged onto their dine-in offerings and, until now, has not played a major role in their revenue streams. The recent delivery boom is the impetus behind the transition of so many restaurants. With old kitchens and dining-orientated restaurants proving inefficient, dark kitchens for rent options are one way to fulfil more orders in less time. Higher profits then feed back into your company’s overall success.
One of the most challenging parts of running a delivery-focused kitchen is handling countless orders and making sure no mistakes are made. Smart City Kitchens offers specially designed software on a single tablet in each dark kitchen to ensure that everything is organised and efficient. Our dark kitchen software allows you to generate demand metrics, understand where bottlenecks are, and manage orders—all in one place.
Dark kitchens are a new industry, and this can make them seem intimidating to those more used to running traditional restaurants. To simplify the process of opening a dark kitchen brand in Singapore and maximising your efficiency, we have a team of business specialists who can offer advice and assistance on finding the best suppliers, cutting unnecessary costs, and improving your delivery service. After all, success for you is success for us.
Opening a new restaurant has never been something done overnight. Finding the right suppliers, organising renovation work and hiring new front-of-house staff are all steps that need to be taken before the restaurant can welcome its first customers. When you rent a dark kitchen, everything is prepared for you before you even move in. Equipment, renovations, and optimised spaces are ready for your team, while dining services are eliminated in favour of high-turnover deliveries.
What Are the Dark Kitchen Solutions in Singapore Like?
Our state-of-the-art dark kitchen for rent options in Singapore are perfectly optimised for food-delivery businesses intent on keeping costs low and profits high. Our kitchens boast anywhere from 20-32 units, some of which even have dine-in availability if your customers prefer to eat in.
How Can Dark Kitchens Save You Money?
When you rent and operate a dark kitchen for your business, you will put yourself one step ahead of your F&B competitors.
1. No money spent on front-of-house responsibilities
As mentioned, front-of-house responsibilities are the burden of traditional restaurant models. Having servers and bartenders is undoubtedly a premium experience, but that is not what the majority of people are looking for at the moment. With fewer and fewer people eating out and more ordering deliveries, it is time to optimise your business with a dark kitchen.
2. Less money spent than running a costly dine-in location
Dark kitchens for rent are designed to be optimised spaces that get the job done. There is no wasted money when you operate in a dark kitchen: orders are fulfilled, and customers get exactly what they want: no more and no less.
3. Easy scalability
One of the true tests of running a successful restaurant business is whether you can scale it. Over 80% of restaurants close down within the first five years, largely because of the excessive operational costs required and, to many, unachievable upfront expenses related to opening a new location. Dark kitchens for rent offer a solution to this, taking permits, renovations, optimisations and logistics out of the equation and allowing you to move in and get started faster and cheaper than ever.
4. Make the shift to delivery with Smart City Kitchens
Want to modernise your restaurant business and have a kitchen space dedicated to deliveries? Get in touch with Smart City Kitchens today and take your F&B business to the next level.
/ THE FUTURE
The Future of Restaurant Businesses in Singapore
With the F&B industry in a period of huge transition, one thing is clear: restaurant businesses must adapt to survive. The rise of food delivery services has come about following a shift in consumer behaviour and has been expedited by the recent pandemic. Now more than ever, customers are looking for convenient sources of food that match the quality they would find in a dine-in restaurant. To meet this demand, restaurants have had to shift towards selling their food on third-party delivery services and optimise their kitchens in a way that complements this. Even though dine-in restaurants will always exist in some capacity, their hold over the industry as the status quo for high-quality meals is fading away. With highly efficient delivery-focused dark kitchens for rent popping up around the country, the dine-in model is becoming obsolete. Optimised dark kitchen spaces offer restaurant businesses the chance to grow and expand at a much faster rate and without unjustifiable risk.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What are dark kitchens, and why are they called dark kitchens?
Virtual or ghost kitchens are other names for dark kitchens. They are also sometimes referred to as ghost kitchens and cloud kitchens, but they all work in the same model. Different from traditional restaurant kitchens having a physical store, dark kitchens are F&B spaces designed and built to prepare food and beverages for delivery or takeaway via an online ordering menu. While customers don't know where the food has been prepared when placing an order online, it will undoubtedly leave them hungry for more!
How do dark kitchens work?
Dark kitchens work by catering to the growing market of food delivery orders from mainly third-party platforms in Singapore, such as Deliveroo, foodpanda, and GrabFood. They usually do not have any seating area (though some facilities do have dine-in) and, therefore, do not serve dine-in but mainly delivery and takeout orders. Most, if not all, of the rental area is used for kitchen space to improve efficiency and cut costs. The result is a streamlined kitchen that is set up for ultimate success.
The process of renting a dark kitchen starts with selecting the location - Smart City Kitchens has strategic locations all over Singapore. Next, the business owner will need to sign the contract and pay the necessary deposit before deciding what kitchen equipment is required to prepare the food. After that, the restaurant will have to ensure it is on the relevant delivery platforms that cater to the public in Singapore. In Smart City Kitchens' dark kitchens, all orders, regardless of whether they come from different food delivery platforms, can be viewed on one tablet. All that's left after this is to connect to the delivery platforms, wait for the orders to come through, cook the food, and pass it to the delivery driver for delivery to the customer.
How do you get a dark kitchen?
Most dark kitchens are opened in collaboration with a dark kitchen provider like Smart City Kitchens. The provider organises all the bureaucratic difficulties of opening a new restaurant, such as renovations, permits, food licenses, insurance, and more. This means that you can move in and start cooking within weeks.
How much do dark kitchens cost?
Expect to spend between S$3,500 and S$5,000 per month when you rent a ghost or dark kitchen (compared to over S$200k for a traditional restaurant) here in Singapore. Of course, this will vary depending on how much new or specialised equipment you need, how big your space is, and where it is located.
What kind of dark kitchen ideas could I start?
There’s plenty you could do when you rent a dark kitchen. From dessert brands to fast-food chains, the dark kitchen ideas are near-endless. But this is exactly what makes them so advantageous in comparison to traditional restaurants. This flexibility means that experimenting with new cuisines, new markets, or new brands is no longer such a huge risk. We recommend that you bring the very same idea you had for your dream restaurant and apply it to the dark kitchen model instead. Especially with the way the industry is trending, almost any F&B business idea can find success in the dark kitchen world.
Open a dark kitchen today
