A cloud kitchen is a relatively recent concept and therefore needs to be discussed in detail. Stay with us and learn all about it!
Cuisine in the times of plague
It needs no explanation that the current situation has influenced almost all industries. Although there are some upsides and downsides, one thing is sure: online sales have increased like never before! At least, for those who know what to do.
There are plenty of solutions that have come in particularly handy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of them peaked this very year, but some of them had already gained popularity just before the lockdown.
All this is especially true for the food ordering industry. Now that people are denied most of their favorite leisure activities outside the home, one thing has stayed the same: ordering delicious food. And who knows this? The food industry knows it. And that is why they are developing themselves for online purchases, orders, and delivery by making impressive discount deals for increasing customer traffic.
For this reason, more and more modern solutions are being introduced in this area. One of them is the concept of a cloud kitchen. Relatively new, but not quite. It had already gained some popularity before the COVID crisis and now it’s at its peak. It’s high time you learn all about it.
Also, for more information, check out this article: what is a cloud kitchen on orderingstack.com
What is a cloud kitchen?
To put it simply: it is a professional kitchen area for cooking food and then preparing it for delivery. But only this. No dining area, no decorations. No restaurant. Also, you can call it a ghost kitchen where the order is taking online and deliver to the doorstep of the customer.
This solution is brilliant for many reasons. Not only is it available for multiple clients like other restaurants, caterers, and private people, it’s also a much cheaper alternative for entrepreneurs who can’t afford a whole facility with a restaurant area. Adopting a cloud kitchen is a great way to minimize expenses during these challenging times, affording employers more capital that otherwise would have gone towards property expenses that can be reinvested in the business. That means more resources to be put towards your digital marketing or hiring and training. You may consider offering online food handler’s certification training via 360 Training to provide your staff with the knowledge they need to ensure food health and safety standards are being observed at every step of the preparation process.
Now think about it: this solution was already a great idea before.
But now it’s simply genius. In most countries, it’s still impossible to dine outside the home. Most restaurants have to lock out the dining areas so the customers don’t feel tempted to use them after ordering a takeaway.
The cloud kitchen is a solution made for this problem. This facility is meant only to receive digital orders, cook them and then prepare them for delivery. It ensures social distance and might be the safest method of preparing food nowadays.
So many people are using food ordering apps that this is not at all a strange idea. Especially now, during the pandemic, when most people prefer to have food delivered, rather than picking it up.
Most of the areas are still in the lockdown situation, and people give preference to deliver food at their doorstep rather than going out from their home because of the spreading covid-19. This idea is great especially for such areas that are still in the lockdown situation.
The cloud kitchen is the dream solution for an entrepreneur who wishes to start a fully professional business with lower costs. The kitchen is fully equipped and managed by experienced chefs. Everything important is already there. You don’t need to worry about employees’ qualifications or buying better equipment. You may simply go into business right away, without having a broad knowledge of it.
So, to sum up: it’s good both for your businesses and their clients.
How to found your own cloud kitchen
Alright, we already know what a cloud kitchen is and what its advantages are. But what if you want to enter the game? What should you know? How do you start?
To create your own cloud kitchen, it’s good to know at least the basics of how to start a food business. If you are experienced in restaurant or catering management, that’s great. If you’ve had your own business, that’s even better. Now, let’s take a look at what you should do first.
You have to get the kitchen, of course. Be careful to make sure the equipment is compliant with all proper regulations. Be sure that it is best suited for the type of food that you want to deliver.
Also, you should have known about the cleanliness of your kitchen, the more you keep clean your kitchen the most your customers will love to order.
Cleanliness itself says that the food you prepare in your kitchen is healthy and safe to eat for both adults and children. Furthermore, if any inspection team comes to visit your kitchen, they will also get inspired by the maintenance and cleanliness of the kitchen.
The most important thing, we have discussed so much about how food should prepare in the kitchen or how should the cloud kitchen work, but please do not forget about the workers. The chefs and workers who work in your cloud kitchen should also be healthy and not having any kind of transmitting diseases like malaria, HIV, measles, etc.
The workers also should maintain their personal hygiene like hand washing and wearing tidy uniforms or dress during cooking and working in the kitchen.
The next important thing is to have basic business know-how. We have already mentioned that experience in the industry is a plus, but it’s not a necessity. Still, you have to make some important decisions. What type of cuisine do you want to serve? Does your cuisine include tin-packed or higher shelf life food or not?
Do you want to own one cloud kitchen or a chain of them? Should you hire your own delivery employees or should you use the services of companies such as Uber Eats and Glovo? How much your employees will get paid by your home kitchen?
All those questions must be answered before you get down to work. Also, remember that it is key to have a grasp of the necessary technology. Your kitchen itself works offline, but all services are offered online. You have to make sure to create a good website or even an app for your services and hire IT specialists in order to do so. The better your website works, the more customers you will get.
And that’s what you want in the end, isn’t it?
You will find all sorts of restaurant supplies that will help you kick-start your food business at https://www.culinarydepotinc.com/.