How dark kitchens can increase efficiency and reduce operational costs

The delivery world is booming in Australia. A combination of changing habits, busy lifestyles, readily available courier services and the COVID-19 pandemic has left people far more likely to order food to their house rather than make the trek down to the restaurant itself.

The convenience of food delivery has certainly made its mark, too: in Australia alone, the industry is set to boom from $43b in 2017 to a whopping $76b by 2022.

This might come as great news for someone who loves to get food delivered to their house – a bigger and more advanced industry means food arrives quicker and hotter. But for traditional restaurants, this poses the challenge of adapting to and juggling a growing delivery business and shrinking dine-in business.

A relatively new concept to the F&B industry, dark kitchens are primed to be the solution for many looking to future-proof their restaurant business and flourish in the new delivery-centric industry. In short, dark kitchens are highly efficient delivery-only kitchen spaces that allow restaurants to fulfil orders in the most cost-effective way.

Let’s take a look at the top few reasons why dark kitchens are both more efficient and cost-effective for delivery when compared to traditional restaurant outlets in Australia.

How dark kitchens are more efficient

Provide for more customers in less time

In a dine-in restaurant, people love to sit and chat after their meal. Sometimes an hour - maybe even two - passes by before you can give their seat to a new customer. In the few peak hours of the day, this can seriously limit the number of customers you can serve.

With a dark kitchen, the order is out within minutes of being cooked.

These delivery-focused kitchen spaces allow you to have a location that caters solely to delivery orders – this kind of efficiency allows you to focus on fulfilling as many orders as possible without any bottlenecks in the process. The Chef Collective team will also figure out the logistics relating to couriers and more, allowing you to focus wholly on cooking the food your delivery business.

Dark kitchens are a turnkey solution

Opening a new restaurant location is a long and arduous process. You’ll have to design your own kitchen space, undertake the renovation works, hire more front of house staff and much more.

With a dark kitchen, all you need to do is move in. Everything is ready to go from day one – including a whole suite of facilities including but not limited to dry and cold storage, gas points, fire safety systems, restrooms, and an order processing centre. These spaces are perfectly suited for cooking virtually all types of cuisines, too.

Support from the Chef Collective team

Dark kitchen or traditional restaurant alike, opening a new branch takes consideration and preparation. The difference between the two is that by moving into one of our dark kitchen spaces, you’re not alone.

The Chef Collective business team will support you daily when it comes to growing your business, remaining cost-efficient and optimizing your delivery-only business.

Manage all your delivery orders through a single tablet in each kitchen

One of the most difficult things about running a restaurant business is keeping delivery and dine-in orders organized and efficient. Missing an order can prove disastrous for your reputation.

Chef Collective’s dark kitchens have software that allows you to sync all your delivery orders in one single app. Manage orders, generate order demand metrics and have all your delivery apps in one place through Chef Collective’s software.

How dark kitchens can save you money

No front of house costs

With a typical restaurant, you’ll need to hire waiters, bussers, bartenders, dishwashers and cooks. A dark kitchen only requires you to have a few employees, allowing you to considerably cut costs and focus only on what directly matters for a delivery-centric business.

Reduced operational costs

All of Chef Collectives dark kitchen spaces in Australia are designedmeant for delivery-only outlets. This means that you’re eliminating many of the costs associated with traditional restaurant businesses from rent to salaries and even logistical costs.

Easy scalability

Running a restaurant isn’t easy. Over half shut down within a year from opening, and 80% do so within the first 5 years. Such dire statistics make it seem near impossible to expand and scale your business, even if you have one or two successful outlets already.

With dark kitchens, scalability becomes a realistic option. Chef Collective takes care of permits, renovations, optimizations and logistics to make opening a branch cheaper, quicker, and simpler than ever before.

Break into the world of delivery kitchens with Chef Collective

Thinking about transitioning your restaurant business and getting your foot in the delivery-only world? Read more about which businesses should make the move into dark kitchens, and why it’s a smart business move.

Get in touch with our team of specialists here at Chef Collective and see how our dark kitchen solutions in Australia can bring your restaurant to the next level.

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