New to the menu during COVID-19: Virtual eateries – Akron Beacon Journal

Kelly Byer|The Repository

There's no storefront for Outlaw Burger. No dining room for Monster Mac. No servers at Crave Burger.

The menu items for all three restaurants are made in the kitchen of Crave in downtown Akron. The upscale eatery partners with Nextbite, a company with a dozen delivery-only brands, in a setup commonly referred to as a virtual or ghost kitchen.

"None of these brands have an actual brick-and-mortar," Crave's General Manager Jeff Kucko said.

The business models and terms might differ from one place to the next, but the common thread is a restaurant without a physical location and a menu designed for delivery through third-party apps,such as DoorDash, Grubhub and Uber Eats.

Some restaurants have partnered with delivery-focused companies to serve their virtual brands, other restaurants are working with brands developed by their parent companies, and then there are commercial or shared kitchen spaces available for restaurants to rent.

Crave's arrangement keeps Nextbite's more "affordable" brands one of which coincidentally included the name "Crave" separate while keeping existing kitchen staff busy and rotating food, thereby making it fresher for customers. Crave also makes 45% to 50% of the profits.

"We did this to hopefully tap into some of the University of Akron market, the younger people especially," he said.

Before the pandemic, the "destination restaurant" catered to workers out for lunch on weekdays and event-goers on weekends. Kucko said Crave now is considering its own secondary brand to meet the demand for a variety of local options with the convenience of delivery.

In the nearly two months Crave has worked with Nextbite, delivery orders have accounted for about 7% to 10% of sales. Kucko said that amounts to about 4% of the restaurant's profit each month.

"This keeps a little more money coming in," he said.

The delivery-only concept is not new but experienced a boost in popularity as customers shifted to delivery over dine-in this past year. Virtual restaurant companies such as Nextbite and Reef Kitchens expanded their locations and brands.

Nextbite reported an increase from three virtual brands to 12 and from a few markets to sites in 40 states this past year. Reef, which calls its sites "neighborhood kitchens," added partnerships with Nathan's Famous and BurgerFi to its offerings in 2020.

Virtual Dining Concepts (VDC) is another growing venture founded in 2019 by Robert Earl, chairman of Earl Enterprises the parent company of Bravo Italian Kitchen and several other traditional restaurants. VDC's delivery-only Wing Squad, MrBeast Burger and Mariah's Cookies operate from the Belden Village location.

The virtual company, which already has a series of celebrity brands, also is in the midst of a nationwide soft launch for Guy Fieri's Flavortown Kitchen, according to a company spokesperson.

It was among this month's new local offerings on the DoorDash delivery app, which also featured Tender Shack (connected to Carrabbas Italian Grill parent company Bloomin' Brands Inc.), Conviction Chicken (connected to TGI Friday's parent company) and The Burger Den (connected to Denny's).

Chuck E. Cheese and its secondary brand for delivery made news last spring and drew social media attention to the practice when a customer shared the realization that Pasqually's Pizza and Wings was not a new, local option.

Brian Bailey, president and CEO of the Ichor Restaurant Group, said virtual brands are more than a name change.

"It's new food," he said. "It's different offerings."

Bailey started Street Craft, a modern Mexican restaurant, in early 2019 "out of the back" of an Old Carolina Barbecue Co. A small, secondary kitchen already existed to serve 1899 Indoor Golf, and he thought the restaurant's smoked meats wouldbe suited totacos.

"It didn't take off," he said.

Virtual kitchens and delivery appswere more popular in big cities.Bailey saiddelivery drivers would be confused when they arrived at Old Carolina and some customers became upset when they saw food online not available for pickup.

That operation ended about a month before the pandemic hit. Then the state shuttered restaurant dining rooms as part of its response to COVID-19 and takeout or delivery were the only options.

The Ichor Restaurant Group tried again in early May with PJ's Legendary Hot Chicken, which began out of Smokethe Burger Joint in Jackson Township. It has since expanded to Old Carolina restaurants in Rocky River and Strongsville.

Bailey said he refers to PJ's as a "ghost kitchen" or part of the "food court in the sky."

"I don't think the industry has settled on any one term," he said.

The model for PJ's involves large signs for delivery drivers and food that can be ordered via delivery apps for pickup or from a separate menu at Smoke and Old Carolina. The kitchen staff use available ingredients, with the addition of mac 'n cheese and "authentic Nashville" oil for the chicken, and existing equipment, with the addition of a few tabletop warmers, for the new menu items.

Bailey said PJ's sales have increased the restaurant group's revenue by 10%.

The Ichor Restaurant Group plans to launch its second ghost kitchen, Shmack 'n Cheese, by the end of March.

"And another one could be coming soon after," Bailey said.

Shmack's gourmet mac 'n cheese bowls will build upon the side dish from PJ's with burger toppings, such as bacon and vegetables. Bailey said potential menu items might include tomato-basil-mozzarella bowls, Mediterranean bowls and Nashville hot chicken bowls.

The Ichor group also is investing in new online ordering technology. Bailey expects restaurants to build smaller dining rooms in the future and focus on "ease of pickup" instead.

Kuko predicted that Crave's delivery-only options also would continue well into the future. He expects delivery orders to decrease when the pandemic subsides but still be stronger than before.

"I think there's been innovation and evolution with things, and I think customer habits have kind of evolved to that," he said.

Julie Carpinelli, associate manager of the Tri-County Restaurant Association that serves Stark, Carroll and Tuscarawas counties, said she had little knowledge or involvement in virtual endeavors by members but supports anything that aids area restaurants.

"I like the creativity," she said. "I like that they're trying to survive in a really difficult world right now for restaurateurs."

Virtual kitchens and corresponding restaurants

See more here:
New to the menu during COVID-19: Virtual eateries - Akron Beacon Journal