The next revolution of the restaurant industry has arrived: digital platforms are providing opportunity to operators allowing them to increase revenue by maximizing unused kitchen space. On this episode of Ghost Kitchen Trends podcast, I talk with Ajay Sunkara, co-founder and president of Nala Robotics about a robotic chef's capability and a fully robotic kitchen. Nala Robotics is a fully automatic robotic chef that can automate the entire cooking process. Sunkara has an engineering background, he runs an engineering college, technology companies and is a managing partner and investor in breweries. Sunkara says that Nala Robotics got started because of something he noticed while at one of his breweries. He says, “one day I was at one of our breweries in the tasting room and sipping beer, I felt the beer was tasting the same almost every single day. It's been pretty consistent but the food that they've been serving with it has been hit or a miss, too spicy or too salty, never consistent in fact. That led me to the idea that the beer is totally automated. It's all these machines making it but when it comes to the food, there's a lot of manual human error involved and that's where the idea started.” Adding, “when I came back to the US I sat with my engineers, we started designing the system and five years down the line we have Nala.” Nala Robotics recently opened their first restaurant in Illinois, One Mean Chicken, a chef-driven fried chicken concept from a made-from-scratch kitchen built around Nala’s proprietary AI and cooking systems. Sunkara talks about in the beginning Nala was started to create consistent food, once the pandemic struck, Nala has created new opportunities in the food industry including touchless food and contactless delivery. It is a machine that can multitask, address labor shortages and food consistency. Marketplace is a new concept, says Sunkara, it is a food marketplace for all professional chefs, at-home chefs, celebrities, and food connoisseurs to sell their dishes worldwide. Nala also has the capability to work continuously around the clock and can provide a variety of packaged foods too. To hear how Nala is able to customize each recipe as well as individual dishes, the cuisines Nala can make, and Nala’s expansion plans, listen to this episode of Ghost Kitchen Trends.

The next revolution of the restaurant industry has arrived: digital platforms are providing opportunity to operators allowing them to increase revenue by maximizing unused kitchen space. On this episode of Ghost Kitchen Trends podcast, I chat with Laura Rea Dickey, chief executive officer of Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants, Inc. Dickey shares some history on the brand and says, “Dickey's is first and foremost it is legit texas barbecue. That's what we've endearingly been for 80 years. It is all about the food and the folks.” Adding, “You know we still have our original restaurant here in Dallas Texas that opened in 1941 we are the oldest continuously operating restaurant in Dallas that has never changed names, changed locations, changed ownerships, and we're still serving there today.” Dickey said she initially joined the company as a consultant, served as chief information officer and currently serves as chief executive officer. Dickey’s background was in the marketing and technology field. When we spoke about her role as CEO she says, “So that's currently what I do which is really like just being a head hall monitor, which is making sure we have the right folks in the right place to do it right.” We talk about Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants getting into the virtual brand space, Dickey says, “it was definitely accelerated by the pandemic. You know we had been partnering with folks and looking into markets internationally for some time. We had our locations in the UAE and we had a wonderful partner join us in Singapore and as we'd entered that market in Singapore and then Japan it was something that was there already and certainly very embraced in the asian market.” Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants added three new virtual concepts, Wing Boss, Big Deal Burger, and Trailer Birds in addition to Dickey’s Barbecue Pit. Dickey shares a bit about the testing and launching process saying, “we took the virtual concepts and ran those for ninety days before we brought any potential existing owner operator in, and then we invited them to come test.” Dickey talks about the challenges in launching the brands, she says, that supply chain as well as technology needed to be addressed. I asked her about a takeaway when launching brands, Dickey says, “I think first and foremost it always starts with the food.” To learn more about Dickey’s Barbecue virtual brand platforms, insights on off-premise, and a cookbook Dickey co-authored with her husband listen to this episode of Ghost Kitchen Trends

The next revolution of the restaurant industry has arrived: digital platforms are providing opportunity to operators allowing them to increase revenue by maximizing unused kitchen space. On this episode of Ghost Kitchen Trends podcast, I chat with Bob Pascal, chief revenue officer at Franklin Junction to take a deep dive into the growing trend of virtual brands. Pascal breaks down ghost kitchens vs. Franklin Junction’s host kitchen model, he says, “I describe a ghost kitchen as simply a commissary focused exclusively on the delivery channel so often a big kitchen or a series of little kitchens, with no dining room and in many cases that means a new build. So let's contrast that with our host kitchen model which is centered on the kitchen of an existing restaurant, that we in turn empower to prepare meals on behalf of other additional brands in order to capture incremental delivery revenue and in my experience you know a lot of restaurants in the community view ghost kitchens as a threat whereas becoming a host kitchen is seen often as a real opportunity.”I asked Pascal about trademarking the term host kitchen and he said, “host kitchen really captured what we were setting out to do in supporting all restaurants growth.” Franklin Junction’s platform and strategy is to build a network to deliver profitable restaurant growth connecting or matching restaurants to their roster of brands to unlock incremental profits. Pascal says about their partner brands, that they are existing brands with strong systems in place that are looking to expand their sales footprint, brands like Dickey’s Barbecue and Fuzzy’s Taco. To hear what Pascal has to say about profit margins for operators, first party vs. third party delivery and what the future holds for Franklin Junction, listen to this episode of Ghost Kitchen Trends.

The next evolution of the restaurant industry has arrived, over the past two decades, I have had a chance to work with some of the fastest-growing brands and companies in the emerging category of fast-casual. I asked myself where are the real changes occurring in the restaurant industry - have we hit a wall? That’s when lightning struck, Technology and the digital consumer have taken over the mindsets of how restaurants will operate now and especially in the future.In today’s episode of Ghost Kitchen Trends, host Paul Barron introduces a new segment called Market Wrap. Barron dives into new players like Five Guys and Kroger jumping into the market, talks third part companies expanding and shares recently updated consumer trend data on takeout and delivery in relation to ghost kitchens. Listen to this episode to hear what Barron has to say about the impact of technology's role and why marketing will be the new science for restaurant growth.

The next evolution of the restaurant industry has arrived: technology and the digital consumer are transforming how restaurants operate. On this episode of the new Ghost Kitchen Trends podcast, Madhav Kasturia—the founder and chief executive officer of ZFW—gives a deep dive into the latest in cloud kitchens and restaurant tech.“The biggest gap in this entire market lies in scale,” says Kasturia. “Brands are not able to scale due to limitations of capital and wealth. That’s the reason India doesn’t have a McDonald’s, KFC, or a national brand. That’s where the expansion platform comes into play—it helps brands scale without having to invest huge amounts of capital.”ZFW, India’s first cloud kitchen platform, supports over five million customers. The company’s operating system utilizes a variety of applications and protocols designed to automate its cloud kitchens in real-time to ensure efficient, excellent service.“We don’t deal directly with the consumer. Customers can order from an app, directly on the website, or they can call the restaurant,” adds Kasturia. “Ordering has doubled over the last couple of years. With the pandemic, ordering has accelerated… it’s a gradual shift that’s happened over the last five years, but it’s here to stay.”Listen to the episode to learn more about how ZFW started and what lies ahead for the platform!

The next evolution of the restaurant industry has arrived. On this episode of the new Ghost Kitchen Trends podcast, host Paul Barron sits down with Geoff Alexander, the president and chief executive officer of Wow Bao, to explore what it takes to launch and scale a virtual brand.Wow Bao is a popular Asian fast casual joint that has ventured into the dark kitchen space. The chain provides participating kitchens and restaurants with a starter kit for steaming, cooking, and selling their menu items via third party delivery companies. The kit includes on-boarding and training materials, as well as all necessary equipment. Restaurants only have to provide some freezer storage and three feet of kitchen space.“We’ve all learned how important delivery is,” says Alexander, alluding to the pandemic. “As we continue to grow and the labor market gets tighter, those who are embracing and keeping delivery more virtual during our business comeback are going to be the most successful. I encourage people to make it a business.”To partner with Wow Bao, restaurant operators do not need to hire additional labor—all employees need to do is steam the product. Most other virtual brands require minimum prep work. For Alexander, automation technology isn’t the future of restaurants.“Technology helps the operator with aggregating all the POS and the orders coming in and the flow-through,” adds Alexander. “Otherwise, tech will help with delivery, but that’s not really on the operator… what is Doordash [and other third party companies] going to come up with to make life better for operators? That’s going to be the real key to watch.”Listen to the episode to hear Alexander’s advice for operators, and make sure to check out the first two episodes of the podcast here!

The next evolution of the restaurant industry has arrived. On this episode of the new Ghost Kitchen Trends podcast, host Paul Barron addresses the role celebrities play when it comes to ghost kitchens.

The next evolution of the restaurant industry has arrived. On this episode of the new Ghost Kitchen Trends podcast, host Paul Barron addresses the brand invasion in ghost kitchens.