A ghost kitchen is a restaurant that exclusively prepares meals for delivery and pickup, without having a physical storefront or dining area for customers. It operates out of a commercial kitchen space, often shared among multiple restaurant brands, and focuses solely on off-premise food orders through delivery apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub, and others. Customers order food online, and delivery drivers pick up the food from the kitchen to deliver it to them. Ghost kitchens may be standalone facilities or run within existing restaurants that launch virtual brands for delivery only. Key characteristics of ghost kitchens:

• No dine-in or storefront presence.
• Optimized for delivery and takeout.
• Orders come primarily through online platforms.
• Kitchen space and equipment are rented or shared.
• They can host multiple brands or "virtual" restaurant concepts from one location.

The model gained popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic when dine-in services were limited or shut down, allowing restaurants to continue serving customers through delivery. It's a cost-efficient way to run a food service business by cutting expenses related to physical dining spaces and reaching more customers digitally. Ghost kitchens are also known as cloud kitchens, dark kitchens, or virtual kitchens, all referring to this delivery-only restaurant concept. In summary, a ghost kitchen is a delivery-only restaurant operation with no public-facing dining space, designed specifically to fulfill online food delivery orders efficiently.