Cloud kitchens are becoming an increasingly popular solution for F&B businesses. Changing consumer habits and the pandemic have driven a shift in the industry: more people are choosing to order from food delivery services than head to a dine-in restaurant to eat food. This has necessitated changes to adapt for many restaurants – whether this means joining third-party delivery services like Foodpanda, GrabFood, Beepit, AsiaAsia Food or opening new cloud kitchen locations with no physical storefront whatsoever.
Many restaurateurs may have heard of cloud kitchens or even toyed with the idea of opening their own. While there have been cloud kitchens for years, they have only just broken into the mainstream these past few years. Kitchen Connect is spearheading this change, having helped countless restaurants open a cloud kitchen throughout promising neighbourhoods in Malaysia. Unsurprisingly, many who want to start making a real profit running a restaurant want a slice of the cloud kitchen cake – but those new to the game will undoubtedly have questions that need answering. Read on for some of the most common questions on cloud kitchens we get asked.
1. What is a cloud kitchen?
Cloud kitchens, also known as ghost, dark kitchens or virtual kitchens, are commercial kitchens built for delivery. They’re located within the delivery radius of a high volume of potential customers, typically in highly populated residential areas instead of shopping districts with high foot traffic. With no dine-in seating, cloud kitchens enable you to run a restaurant with a much smaller, consolidated, and efficient team.
2. Is a cloud kitchen expensive?
The cost of a cloud kitchen is significantly lower than that of a traditional brick and mortar restaurant. In a cloud kitchen provided by Kitchen Connect, restaurant owners do not need to pay for initial construction costs, nor do they need to worry about insurance or permits. Much lower upfront and ongoing expenses make cloud kitchens an affordable option for those businesses wishing to launch or expand their brand.
3. How does a cloud kitchen operate?
Cloud kitchens are a delivery focused kitchen that eliminates the need for in-person dining. Through the use of third party delivery companies like Foodpanda and GrabFood, customers can order food from your restaurant online while allowing you to use in-house facilities in the cloud kitchen to prepare and distribute the order to your customers. This is a highly efficient business model, as the only limitation to how much food you sell is how many orders you receive and how fast you can cook.
4. How do cloud kitchens make money?
The cloud kitchen business model enables restaurant owners and entrepreneurs in the F&B industry to cut costs on front-house staff, overheads, food wastage, and other inefficiencies such as food storage whilst increasing the volume of customers ordering food online.
5. What locations does Kitchen Connect have on offer?
Kitchen Connect is Malaysia’s leading cloud kitchen operator. We have locations across Kuala Lumpur, providing restaurateurs with convenient and accessible spaces oriented towards driving revenues and increasing profits. We have cloud kitchens in:
- Mont’kiara
- Bangsar
- The Grange @ Ampang Walk
- Damansara Jaya – Atria Shopping Gallery
6. What equipment and facilities does Kitchen Connect provide?
We provide our kitchen tenants with a number of additional services and benefits that help make our cloud kitchens efficient powerhouses. The equipment that we provide (but is not limited to) includes:
- Prep sink
- Commercial hood
- Fresh air ventilation
- Power and gas
- Grease-trap/interceptor
- Cold & freezer storage
- Dry storage
The facilities that we provide go beyond just the kitchen. They are tailor-made to ensure that your kitchen isn’t just a place for cooking but the centre of your operations. Our facilities include:
- Driver pickup area
- Receiving & loading dock
- Shared prep area
- Staff break room
- Restrooms
- Mop wash
Contact us
Interested in opening your own cloud kitchen or have more questions about cloud kitchens? Fill out the form below to get in touch with Kitchen Connect today!