The world came to a standstill after the substantial rise in Covid cases was recorded. People were advised to stay indoors and the only response humankind had to the coronavirus was not to get infected. All businesses were down by huge margins. Despite all the challenges the world was facing, the food and beverage business was still operational. People were still able to enjoy their favorite dishes from their favorite restaurants. The reason why people were able to enjoy their favorite dishes: Dark Kitchens. No, these are not kitchens that operate without any light. Rather, you can say these kitchens operate out of the shadows. The order is received via the cloud, the food is prepared, and then sent out for delivery minimizing the interaction between people. There are no dine-in or customer interaction facilities. The kitchen is a food delivery merchant’s best friend.

A lot of restaurants opted for the dark kitchen route in the midst of the pandemic and with lockdown in full effect, restaurant owners believed it was better to minimize human interaction to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The darkness of dark kitchens has got a bright light at Punjabi by Nature. We are doing express and quickie: two formats where customers can order from their homes, workplace, etc. and eat our offerings that are delicious, local, made with love, and with all the fun today’s fresh food must have,” said Chef Suvir Saran, Culinary Director, Anon Food and Beverage.

The popularity of food delivery has grown with time. Zomato and Swiggy remain the most popular food delivery companies in India so much so that people have synonymized food delivery with these delivery companies. Delivery has revolutionized the way people used to perceive food. Pre-pandemic, people used to go out and enjoy the experience of eating out. The food delivery companies became huge after the onset of the pandemic when people wanted to have a similar experience at their homes since they could not step out.

“We have recently started a Sushi delivery brand by the name of ‘Sushi San by Kampai’. We are planning to expand that as a delivery-only brand. We are planning to start operating it from a base kitchen in Gurugram but I do see it expand into the dark kitchen space as well,” said Avantika Sinha, Founder, and MD, Kampai.

Wondering why restaurant owners are so eager to start their own dark kitchens? According to a report by Redseer, the dark kitchens are bound to witness five times the growth in gross merchandise value to $2-3 billion by 2025. The report also suggests that the dark kitchens have a higher EBITDA profitability and lower CAPEX than dine-in restaurants while driving customer satisfaction on an upwards trajectory.

“We did a lot of dark kitchens ourselves because it made sense to pivot aggressively because there were no customers coming in but since Covid has ended, we’ve pivoted back to dine-ins,” said Kabir Jeet Singh, CEO, and Co-founder, Burger Singh.

Dark kitchens are one for the future due to them being an inexpensive option as compared to a dine-in restaurant. The advantage of cutting down unnecessary overhead costs provides a boost the profit margins.  There are no additional investments like cutlery, furniture, interior, etc. since the model is primarily focused on food delivery.

Dark kitchens have significantly lower spending on marketing due to the quick exposure received with the help of delivery partners. Each dark kitchen has its own proprietary software which displays the menu and promotions featuring discounted menus. With the penetration of technology and with the inception of digital menus, it would become easier for dark kitchens to modify the menu according to the raw materials available and the demand for a particular dish.

The ease of providing an accurate estimated time of arrival for a person’s delivery makes dark kitchens a thing of the future. The technology being sued provides the dark kitchens with insights into what the customer likes and how he/she likes it. The digital business models help customize and personalize orders for customers with the data insights and understanding of what the customer wants helping dark kitchens to attract new clientele.

Dark kitchens were considered a pit-stop solution during the Covid-era. The dark kitchens have continued to do well despite entering the post-covid era where people do not have any obligations to stay. The dark kitchen provides an opportunity to build a successful restaurant business with minimal capital. The contemporary world is heavily reliant on technology and the dark kitchens capitalize on the reliance on technology, especially from GenZ and iGen.