Amidst the explosion of growth in food delivery services, a new type of food establishment has been consolidating. These are places absolutely focused on delivery service, which do not serve meals in loco, and do not have tables or service desks. They are like small “CDs” created with the purpose of meeting the growing demand of this new market. These places have been called "dark kitchens".
The idea behind the concept is to reduce costs. Without local service, there is no need to hire waiters, purchase furniture, invest in decoration, among other concerns. Even large franchises such as McDonald's and KFC have embraced the idea, having already set up their own “dark kitchens”.
The model becomes more interesting, especially in logistical terms, when multiple restaurants come together in the same dark kitchen, which is a service offered by start-ups like Cloud Kitchens. In general, centralization in the supply chain proposes greater flexibility, and this case is no different. Think, for example, that almost every restaurant needs garlic. In a traditional model of “to each his own square”, each establishment needs to prospect its supplier, order, receive and manage its garlic stocks. It is very likely that a good part of the ingredient will also be discarded, depending on the validity of the product. With several networks at a single point, it would be possible to negotiate volumes with more consolidated freight with suppliers, in addition to making the use of seasoning more flexible between networks, compensating for variations in demand for each one. This makes inventory management easier and more predictable, minimizing waste and over-and-under costs. This ease does not only apply to ingredients, but mainly to items such as packaging and bags and also to standardized goods that are offered by multiple chains, such as drinks and desserts from specific brands or industrial products in general. The potential is huge.
Another interesting aspect concerns the positioning of the couriers. In the normal model, delivery people must travel to each restaurant to pick up orders and then take them to customers. Naturally, they seek to be close to the restaurants with the highest demand to be chosen by the app's algorithms, but given the wide distribution of restaurants in an urban network, it is very likely that there will be no delivery person available around the time the order is ready. , especially if it is an establishment that prepares its dishes quickly (such as fast food or snack bars) or that is not close to a high demand region. The dark kitchen also becomes a point of reference for several couriers, which makes timely pick-up more likely, ensuring shorter total order delivery times, in addition to shorter trips for couriers.
Figure 1 : Advantages of shared kitchens for moving couriers. Self elaboration.
It is still possible to think of other advantages such as sharing items from different restaurants in the same delivery, being feasible by the model an order that contains the starter of one restaurant, the main course of another and the dessert of a third. In a normal model, this combination is not very advantageous, due to multiple delivery rates and items arriving at different times, but with the centralized model, this would be a possibility.
Some points of attention need to be observed for those who wish to enter this model. In the same way that a well-done centralization helps logistics, a dark kitchen poorly located would make everyone distant from customers. Sharing materials between different companies also requires well-designed and respected rules and disciplines for cases where, for example, there are two orders and a single can of beer. There must also be consensus on quality and acquisition price.
With good organization and collaboration between the players involved, the model of dark kitchens presents itself as a great alternative to grow in the increasingly delivery market.
Sources:
https://www.bighospitality.co.uk/Article/2019/11/01/McDonald-s-opens-first-dark-kitchen
https://www.ft.com/content/a66619b0-77e4-11e9-be7d-6d846537acab
Fernando Chalréo
He has been working on consulting projects in Logistics and Supply Chain for 5 years, with experience in companies in the consumer goods, retail and food and beverage sectors. Types of projects already carried out: Sales & Operations Planning, Inventory Management, Network Planning, Business Process Review, Logistics Indicators and Transport Management
