While scrolling through the bright graphics and visuals of a food delivery app like Uber Eats, one can easily be overwhelmed by the seemingly endless list of restaurant options. But what few people know is many of these establishments are not actually accessible to dine-in customers. These are called ghost kitchens: food service businesses serving customers only via delivery and pick-up.

When the COVID-19 pandemic brought in-person dining to a halt, many businesses had no in-person customers. According to ABC7 in an article published in May 2021, nearly a third of all California restaurants, around 26,000 people, closed permanently during 2021. 

However, a profitable solution was on the way: ghost kitchens — restaurants with no ties to an in-person dining experience. While all ghost kitchens operate exclusively for delivery, some continue to run out of brick-and-mortar restaurants.

Many of these establishments run hundreds of different digital restaurants out of a single kitchen location, with some restaurants even offering the same or similar menus as others. For example, Virtual Dining Concepts in Long Beach offers the same fish sandwich for the same price across 19 of its restaurants. When asked how many restaurants they operated out of the kitchen in an interview with The Urban Legend, an employee of Fresco Pizza – Shawarma & Ice Cream said,  “A lot … we cannot say numbers … more than 20.” 

Ghost kitchens that operate out of existing dine-in restaurants are the most common in San Francisco. These first gained popularity when celebrities or organizations such as MrBeast, Wiz Khalifa, NASCAR and Tyga started their own virtual kitchens. 

One of the most popular is MrBeast Burger. According to their website, “MrBeast Burger operates out of existing restaurant kitchens, allowing restaurateurs to add a new source of revenue without impacting the operation. Customers can only order MrBeast Burger via the proprietary app or through major food delivery service apps.” There are many MrBeast Burger distributors in San Francisco, including one listed at the same address as California Parking parking lot in the mission district. 

Many Yelp customer reviews of MrBeast Burger distributors across the country cite that these nationwide virtual restaurant brands come with severe drawbacks, including poor quality control. Dozens of patrons said their burgers had a tendency to arrive uncooked, without the promised toppings or never even arriving at all. “The burger was so raw it was mushy,” top Grubhub reviewer Corinda said in a one-star review. 

Urban’s Head Chef David Labao said, “I think some quality control gets missed. And any kind of personal touch.”

Without a cook or waiter-to-diner communication, the vital element of human interaction within the restaurant is lost. “They’re just not about the community. They’re more kind of mass production,” said Labao. “When you [run] a brick and mortar restaurant, it’s about community and about customer service. This completely takes that away.”

Simone Maurillo ‘25 ordered from a remote ghost kitchen called Local Kitchens. “It was basically just an empty [waiting] room with an iPad and a counter and a few people going in and out,” she said. “It looked kind of weird, and I was confused because I didn’t really know what it actually was.”

According to Euromonitor, ghost kitchens could be a $1 trillion global market by 2030. However, since the report, business has slowed as customers return to in-person dining. 

Tech company Reef Technology partnered with fast-food chain Wendy’s in 2021 to open 700 delivery ghost kitchens over the next five years. In 2022, Wendy’s cut the deal back and closed all its remaining Reef units in the United States earlier in 2023 after concluding it wasn’t profitable or in alignment with their standards.

“Every year [is] getting worse and worse … They don’t make much money,” said an employee of a local ghost kitchen at 1338 Polk Street. This location runs restaurants such as Fresco Pizza – Shawarma & Ice Cream, Wings Wiz, Halal Cheesesteak Snob, Kiss My Seoul, The Pasta S–t, Dickey’s BBQ Pit, Sasha’s Sandwiches and more.

“I’m not saying this food is bad, right? It’s still the same thing. It’s fruits and vegetables and meats and different ingredients,” said Labao. “I just think the concept about how we eat should be less speedy and fast, and take our time and connect with people when you eat.”