{"id":9803,"date":"2020-06-23T17:20:27","date_gmt":"2020-06-23T11:50:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/34.22.110.190\/english\/?p=9803"},"modified":"2020-06-26T17:49:01","modified_gmt":"2020-06-26T12:19:01","slug":"covid-19-makes-cloud-kitchens-the-most-viable-option-many-food-entrepreneurs-are-now-opting-for-home-delivery-only","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/covid-19-makes-cloud-kitchens-the-most-viable-option-many-food-entrepreneurs-are-now-opting-for-home-delivery-only\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19 makes cloud kitchens the most viable option: many food entrepreneurs are now opting for home delivery only"},"content":{"rendered":"

If Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) is here to stay \u2013 for the coming few months or till a vaccine is introduced \u2013 what should we do about our cravings for a hearty meal at a restaurant?<\/p>\n

Introducing cloud kitchens \u2013 a model that\u2019s turning out to be the most successful and practical these days, and who knows whether this may be the only model in the coming days? Right now, this is an alternative that has quietly replaced \u201ceating out\u201d experiences at swish restaurants with online delivery of the customers’ favourite food.<\/p>\n

What are cloud kitchens? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Cloud kitchens are commercial facilities to produce food specifically for delivery. These are sometimes also known as virtual kitchens, ghost kitchens or shared kitchens with delivery-only options (and no dine-in facilities).<\/p>\n

But haven\u2019t cloud kitchen been there pre-COVID-19? That\u2019s absolutely right. There\u2019s nothing new in the concept in the sense that some restaurants on your food delivery apps have already been running cloud kitchens even before the pandemic hit. But what\u2019s changing right now is that more and more restaurants are shifting to the cloud kitchen model as dining out in restaurants is a choice many customers are likely to avoid in the coming days.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Ekdalia Rd is focusing more on their home delivery these days<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

How does it work?<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a model, cloud kitchens have always been there across the world \u2013 including in Kolkata. In Kolkata, the Kasba Industrial Estate houses several commercial cloud kitchen facilities. Food entrepreneurs are now increasingly banking on their kitchen spaces and giving up their rented restaurant spaces as a huge cost on paying rent, electricity bills, employees’ salaries and so on, is going waste as the number of people going out to eat has fallen sharply despite the lifting of lockdown restrictions on restaurants.<\/p>\n

Many entrepreneurs said that they were shelling out Rs 1-2 lakh on rent, employees, monthly electricity bills for a restaurant space, the maximum amount being spent on rent. With cloud kitchens, it is only a commercial licensed food production unit one has to spend on, apart from subscribing to the food delivery apps or using one\u2019s own delivery system to reach the ordered food to the customers\u2019 doorstep.<\/p>\n

Founders of The Brewing Leaf<\/em>, Anirudh Gupta and Dhruv Grover started their virtual kitchen even before the pandemic hit. \u201cWe were looking at moving away from \u2018consumers coming to us\u2019 to \u2018we move to the consumers\u2019. A cloud kitchen makes us focus only on the quality of food and hygiene rather than on a fancy set-up,\u201d said Grover.<\/p>\n

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The Brewing Leaf started its cloud kitchen before the pandemic had hit<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Impact of COVID-19 on restaurants<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many food entrepreneurs have not opened their restaurants despite the lifting of the lockdown restrictions. Those who have opened, experience a significant fall in the number of customers. For many, it\u2019s a matter of a few months before they take a final decision on whether to continue running the restaurant or shift to the cloud kitchen model, sticking to only home delivery.<\/p>\n

The impact of COVID-19 has made many entrepreneurs take up options outside the physical space of their restaurants. Owner of restaurant Ekdalia Rd<\/em>, Surajit Rout, considers the virtual kitchen and home delivery-only model as \u201cthe survival model for next six to eight months to overcome the pandemic situation\u201d. Rout pointed out that \u201cWith the Covid-19 scare at the back of one\u2019s mind, it\u2019s evident that we will need to adjust ourselves in a set-up where most of the food ordered will be will be delivery rather than dine-in. In the next few months, the dine-in option will be limited. What happens after that, we\u2019ll have to wait and watch\u201d.<\/p>\n

Doma Wang \u2013 owner of The<\/em> Blue Poppy Thakali<\/em> and Shim Shim<\/em> \u2013 has been delivering food from her home and restaurant since most people are not ready to go and eat at a restaurant right now. \u201cEvery week, for two to three days, in my social-media handle I have been announcing certain dishes for the next day so people can pre-order and collect it either from my home or they can use online apps to get the food delivered to their homes. This is also to ensure safety and hygiene of the food being delivered,\u201d said Wang. \u201cEverything cooked with love is special,\u201d she said, adding that her dedicated customers still look forward to food cooked by her.<\/p>\n

Barnali Sensarma Ghosh, owner of the Tintin-themed restaurant, Tintin and the Brussels Club<\/em> on Hindustan Park in Gariahat said that she is now using her own car to send deliveries across the city. \u201cI am taking orders from all over Kolkata, Howrah and even in South 24 Parganas,\u201d Barnali said. \u201cFood delivery apps deliver food within a specific area. I wanted to go beyond that,\u201d she said. Barnali, like many other food entrepreneurs, is paying a huge amount of rent for the restaurant, and she says she has to take a call within a month or two, whether she will move to the cloud kitchen model altogether. \u201cPeople are preferring home delivery these days, and this is going well for us. The restaurant business has been badly hit as it is not an essential service. If home delivery works well, many, including me, might want to shift to a new model by giving up the physical space of the restaurant but still continue in the business,\u201d Barnali said.<\/p>\n

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Tintin and the Brussels Club has been delivering their food all over Kolkata, parts of Howrah and South 24 Parganas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Are delivery menus bringing in more variety? <\/strong><\/p>\n

With delivery-only option being the most preferred option now, food entrepreneurs are bringing in more variety in the menu. Earlier, the number of dishes for dine-in and delivery menu would vary, with the most popular dishes excluded from delivery menu mostly to attract the customer to the restaurant. However, now even delivery menus are being altered to make the customer order more online.<\/p>\n

Grover pointed out that \u201csince we specialise in tea \u2013 from masala chai<\/em>, adrak wali chai<\/em> (ginger-infused) to shahi chai<\/em>, chaat chai<\/em> and for food authentic Bengali, Continental, Chinese \u2013 we are delivering everything with good packaging.\u201d\u00a0According to Surajit Rout, \u201cwe have started delivering multi-cuisine food and there are plans to offer heritage cuisine (old, forgotten cuisine) for small parties of 20-25 people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many new possibilities are sure to unfold in the coming days.<\/p>\n

[Cover image: Picture 1: Doma Wang, owner of The<\/em> Blue Poppy Thakali<\/em> and Shim Shim<\/em> and Picture 2: delivery of food by Tintin and the Brussels Club<\/em>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many restaurant owners are gradually giving up their restaurant spaces and moving to home delivery only. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":250,"featured_media":9804,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,11,17],"tags":[],"tmauthors":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9803","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-bengal","8":"category-editors-choice","9":"category-food"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/250"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9803"},{"taxonomy":"tmauthors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tmauthors?post=9803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}