ghost kitchen

noun

plural ghost kitchens

: a commercial cooking facility used for the preparation of food consumed off the premises

Ghost kitchens host food establishments, usually fast-casual, that make meals that can be purchased exclusively with a delivery app …

—Jonah Engel Bromwich

Ghost kitchens, which have no storefronts or dining rooms, are the hottest thing going during the pandemic. Some are all-new kitchens created to house multiple companies. Others … are new brands added to existing restaurants that seek additional business.

—Michael Klein

This is what [Eric] Greenspan did with his own ghost kitchen brands—multiple cuisine styles made from the same basic supplies, all from a single location.

—RoamingHunger.com

called also cloud kitchen, dark kitchen

Examples of ghost kitchen in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The restaurant is run day to day by Eric Greenspan, the chef most recently behind a chain of ghost kitchens founded by the YouTuber MrBeast, and Bill Chait, a restaurateur most famously involved with the beloved California bakery chain Tartine. —Ellen Cushing, The Atlantic, 22 Sep. 2025

Build flexibility into formats: ghost kitchens or smaller footprint units, pickup only sites or drive throughs may cost less and deploy faster. —Gary Occhiogrosso, Forbes.com, 15 Sep. 2025

So the downtown Asian staple moved into a ghost kitchen 13 miles away in Meridian. —Michael Deeds, Idaho Statesman, 11 Aug. 2025

That could mean ghost kitchens, last-mile fulfillment hubs, or creative co-working setups in unexpected neighborhoods. —Matthew Kayser, USA Today, 5 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

2015, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for ghost kitchen

• cowichan
• kitchin