Gone are the days when people would wait for the weekend to go out and eat something they love. Now people are more interested in dining in the comfort of their homes. This has become a trend ever since the coronavirus pandemic struck the world last year. Vaccination has picked pace but there are companies that believe that the trend is going to stay. The reason being that it is very convenient and all it takes is to tap few buttons. Considering this, Wendy’s has decided to open over 700 delivery-only kitchens. The American fast-food restaurant chain said that it is targeting to open these kitchens in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom by 2025.
There are reports that suggest that around 50 of such kitchens would be running by the end of this year. These kitchens would be primarily located in major cities. Orders of these kitchens would be handled by the likes of Grubhub, Uber Eats, and DoorDash. In order to set up these kitchens, the company has partnered with startup Reef Technology – which is managing around 5,000 such kitchens. The startup will help Wendy’s open the kitchen and hire workers for different locations. Wendy’s is expected to take a six percent cut of sales. If everything goes as planned, the company is expecting the sales of each unit to hit at least USD 500,000 annually.
The concept of delivery-only kitchens or ghost kitchens is not new. They have been in trend for several years. A ghost kitchen operates without any storefront. This means that the food prepared in such kitchens would be only for delivery or pickup. Before making a decision on opening hundreds of kitchens, Wendy’s and Reef piloted eight ghost kitchens. Wendy’s CEO Todd Penegor said that the company’s digital sales in the US grew more than 10 percent in the second quarter. “Looking at the economy, it would be too early to predict anything, but we are expecting the sales to be above USD 500,000 per unit.
