When ghost kitchens first popped up in the restaurant industry, it appeared to be an innovative solution to many obscure problems, such as a limited job market, rising costs, and increased catering overhead.
And, over time the global market for ghost kitchens is expected to grow from $43.1 billion in 2019 to $71.4 billion by 2027. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the takeaway food delivery market accounted for 8% of the UK foodservice, and the numbers have only gone up since. So, it’s no wonder that many entrepreneurs are considering opening their ghost kitchens in the UK. If you are also looking to open one, this guide will give you tips on opening a touchless ghost kitchen in the UK.
7 Steps To Open Your Touchless Ghost Kitchen In The UK
Ghost kitchens are easier to open and manage, but they are not without their challenges. There are a few things you must keep in mind if you want to open a successful touchless ghost kitchen in the UK.
1. Choose The Best Location
Choosing a good location is the most crucial step when opening a restaurant. It doesn’t matter if you’re going to open a fast-food restaurant, a high-end dining place, or a ghost kitchen; the location is king.
But you need to make sure that the location is not only profitable but also convenient. For a ghost kitchen to be successful, it has to be close to its customers, serve them efficiently, and have enough foot traffic to make the business viable.
2. Plan Your Design And Layout
Your cuisines will influence the design and layout of your ghost kitchen. You need mainly focus on the kitchen area to take orders straight to the kitchen with a highly efficient production line leading to the order packing and driver delivery areas.
You don’t have to worry about furniture or a guest room. But don’t forget to take care of your staff by providing a separate room and other amenities to keep them happy!
3. Select Your Team Or Staff
Staffing is one of the most important things that must be done right by the owner of a ghost kitchen in the UK. However, many owners fail to understand how staffing can be an asset for their business instead of a liability.
So, ensure you have the right staff members in place with the skill-set necessary to execute high-quality meals since you have to focus on your kitchen’s stability, efficiency, and quality. It’s essential to have a substantial kitchen team that works flawlessly together on delivering a touchless experience.
4. Optimize The Menu
The biggest challenge of delivering food via a take-away/delivery is to make the food look scrumptious and taste heavenly. Hence, you must prioritise optimising the menu for delivery.
Here’s a list of the top 5 most successful menu optimisation tips:
- Have a limited and innovative menu (e.g., 5-7 dishes).
- Have one or two signature dishes that you can promote via the menu.
- Personalise your menu for delivery (e.g., change your writing style based on your target audience).
- Make the first page of the menu have the name of your restaurant, address, opening hours, number of seats, contact information, etc.
- Have different versions of the same dish to appeal to various target customers.
5. Onboard Latest Technology
Technology will play a crucial role while opening a touchless ghost kitchen in the UK. It can be a hard decision to make about which software to invest in. But it’s an investment that, if done well, will pay for itself many times over.
A robust POS software will help you centralise your order taking, manage your inventory better, assign orders instantly making it feasible for you to take more orders from multiple platforms, view live data, reports, sales management, and order overview. It will streamline your kitchen’s operations, making it truly touchless.
6. Find Your Unique Selling Point
Any business that wants to stand out in the crowd needs to find a unique selling point. This is true in marketing, branding, building a team, and in every other aspect of designing a business. It’s no different when opening a ghost kitchen in the UK.
To make your cloud kitchen truly unique, you need to understand what makes it different from your competition. Why are you different? What do you offer that is different from anyone else?
For example, you can try a combination of different cuisines, or just take a famous cuisine and give it a twist.
7. Market Your Ghost Kitchen
This is the most important task. It’s crucial to build a solid online presence on websites, delivery platforms, review sites, and social media.
It is also a good idea to be as active as possible online. Here are tips few tips for you to get started with marketing:
- Share as much as you can on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
- Build a community of engaged users by starting conversations and engaging with customers.
- Solicit reviews and reply to positive and negative reviews online.
- Use loyalty and email marketing programs to drive remarketing.
It may sound scary, but by taking control of your digital marketing, you’ll be ahead of the competition.
The world market for ghost kitchens could be worth $1 trillion by 2030. And, it offers a great deal at a fraction of the investment. To open a ghost kitchen in the competitive UK industry, you must first create a well-thought-out plan and learn about current food trends in the UK. However, all of the preceding steps are critical to the successful operation of a ghost kitchen in the UK.
