Add Delivery Catering or a Ghost Kitchen?

Industry research consistently shows that delivery additions pencil best for restaurants with brand-fit cuisine (fast-casual, pizza, comfort food consistently outperform fine dining on delivery), spare off-peak kitchen capacity, healthy core margins to absorb the ramp, and a local market with strong delivery demand. Adding delivery from a stressed core position commonly worsens overall performance rather than improving it.

A ghost kitchen (also called dark kitchen or cloud kitchen) is a delivery-only kitchen operation without a traditional dining room or storefront presence, often operating one or multiple virtual brands optimized for delivery platforms. Ghost kitchens can be standalone facilities, dedicated rented spaces in shared commissary kitchens, or capacity within existing restaurants. The model lowers capital requirements and overhead at the cost of brand-building and direct customer relationships.

Industry research consistently shows catering additions pencil best for restaurants with strong corporate or event proximity (downtown locations, near offices, near event venues), kitchen capacity to handle catering volumes alongside core operations, and brand fit for catering-appropriate cuisines. Catering typically delivers higher margin per dollar than delivery and lower platform fees, but requires sales effort that delivery does not.

Major delivery platforms (Doordash, UberEats, Grubhub) typically charge restaurants 15-30% commission per order, with the specific rate depending on visibility tier and promotional participation. For restaurants with 25% food cost and the typical operating-cost structure, a 25% delivery commission on a $40 order leaves materially less margin than the same order eaten on-premises. Direct ordering and catering channels typically deliver substantially better unit economics than delivery-platform orders.

When two adding delivery, catering, or a ghost kitchen options score within roughly five percent of each other, the tool surfaces both rather than forcing a false single answer. In practice that means the decision comes down to a non-quantitative preference (personal fit, brand affinity, downstream flexibility). Pick the adding delivery, catering, or a ghost kitchen option you would feel most comfortable defending in six months and move forward; the residual difference rarely justifies more analysis.

National Restaurant Association industry research consistently shows the average US restaurant net profit margin at 3-9%, with full-service typically 3-5% and fast-casual 6-9%.

Industry research from National Restaurant Association and major restaurant-marketing platforms consistently identifies Google Business Profile completeness plus active management as the single highest-leverage restaurant marketing move.

Restaurant Technology Network industry research consistently identifies four upgrade signals: sustained operational pain affecting daily service, multi-location or significant single-location growth that current system cannot support, system age over 7-10 years (modern integrations and security features typically lag on older systems), or integration becoming a binding constraint for inventory, accounting, online ordering, or reservations.

Cornell Hospitality Quarterly research consistently shows that guest-experience improvements lift repeat-visit rates, average ticket or room-night spend, and review ratings, with compounding revenue impact over 6-12 months.

Industry research consistently places typical US cafe startup costs at $80,000-400,000 depending on size, location, equipment quality, and build-out scope.