10 ghost kitchen and delivery-only concepts growing fast
The explosive growth of ghost kitchens during the pandemic promised to reshape the restaurant business. Several years later, the reality is more complicated. Some operators have disappeared, others have moved into physical restaurants, and the strongest businesses are increasingly combining delivery-only infrastructure with established brands, technology and flexible formats.
That does not mean the model is disappearing. Recent restaurant news suggests ghost kitchens are entering a more disciplined phase. Established chains are using them to increase delivery capacity, while multi-brand operators are sharing infrastructure across concepts and digital-first brands are using delivery kitchens to test markets before investing in conventional restaurants.
For the wider food industry, these 10 concepts and operating models demonstrate how delivery-only dining continues to evolve.
1. Wonder scales the multi-restaurant model
Wonder is among the most ambitious companies attempting to reinvent food delivery.
Instead of operating a conventional ghost kitchen serving one restaurant, Wonder allows customers to order from multiple restaurant concepts in a single transaction. Its locations typically offer more than 20 concepts, creating something closer to a digitally integrated food hall.
Expansion has been rapid. Wonder says it has more than 140 locations across the U.S. Northeast and Mid-Atlantic and is expanding into Texas. The company has also built a broader ecosystem spanning restaurant operations, delivery and meal-kit businesses.
The appeal is convenience. A household can order different cuisines while receiving one combined delivery. That tackles a limitation of conventional restaurant ordering while potentially increasing transaction values.
2. Chick-fil-A adds delivery-only capacity
One of the clearest signs of the model’s evolution is the involvement of established restaurant chains.
In June 2026, Chick-fil-A opened a delivery kitchen in Miami’s Wynwood neighbourhood through CloudKitchens. The company said the site was its sixth delivery kitchen in the U.S. and its first in Florida.
Unlike a conventional Chick-fil-A restaurant, the location does not have a dining room. Orders are placed through the company’s app or third-party delivery platforms.
The strategy highlights an important role for ghost kitchens. Rather than replacing physical restaurants, they can supplement them by providing additional capacity in densely populated delivery markets.
For large chains with established demand, that makes the economics potentially more attractive than launching an unknown virtual brand.
3. Pressed Juicery accelerates expansion
Pressed Juicery is demonstrating how delivery kitchens can help established consumer brands expand without matching every new market with a conventional storefront.
In June 2026, the company announced a major partnership with CloudKitchens that would place Pressed products in 27 delivery kitchens across the U.S. by the end of summer 2026.
The approach gives Pressed access to additional delivery territories while reducing some of the real-estate requirements associated with opening 27 traditional retail locations.
It also demonstrates that ghost kitchens are expanding beyond hot restaurant meals. Products such as juices, smoothies and wellness shots are naturally suited to digital ordering and transportation.
For the food industry, delivery infrastructure is increasingly becoming a distribution channel in its own right.
4. Roti tests new markets with ghost kitchens
Roti Modern Mediterranean illustrates how fast-casual operators can use delivery kitchens to extend their footprint while managing expansion risk.
The brand has been working with CloudKitchens as part of its growth strategy, using delivery-focused locations to reach customers outside its conventional restaurant estate.
This approach can offer a practical advantage. Opening a full-service or fast-casual restaurant involves leases, construction, customer-facing design and substantial equipment investment. A delivery kitchen can provide a comparatively flexible way to test demand.
If a market performs strongly, the data can potentially support a later physical opening.
That positions ghost kitchens as market-testing infrastructure rather than simply substitutes for restaurants.
5. Rebel Foods makes one kitchen serve many brands
India-based Rebel Foods remains one of the companies most closely associated with the cloud kitchen model.
Its portfolio includes brands such as Faasos, Behrouz Biryani, Oven Story Pizza and The Good Bowl. Instead of building separate restaurants for every concept, multiple brands can operate through shared kitchen infrastructure.
The model allows Rebel to address different eating occasions from the same real-estate footprint. Its EatSure platform takes the strategy further by allowing consumers to order across different restaurant brands within a single transaction.
Rebel Foods operates thousands of internet restaurants across hundreds of kitchens and multiple markets.
The underlying idea remains one of the strongest arguments for ghost kitchens: a kitchen can potentially generate more revenue when its labour, equipment and property support multiple carefully targeted brands.
6. Taster turns creators into restaurant brands
European food technology company Taster is pursuing a different route by combining delivery-first restaurants with the creator economy.
Taster works with online creators to develop restaurant brands, using their existing audiences to accelerate customer acquisition. Concepts can be tested through delivery and pop-ups before expanding through partner restaurants and franchise locations.
The company says its network includes more than 120 active locations across Europe, while Pepe Chicken, created with French YouTube personality FastGoodCuisine, is available in more than 110 cities across France and Belgium.
The model addresses one of the biggest challenges for virtual restaurants: visibility.
A delivery-only brand has no prominent high-street frontage. Creator partnerships can provide a ready-made audience, although long-term success still depends on repeat orders and consistent food quality.
7. Kitopi evolves beyond the cloud kitchen
Dubai-headquartered Kitopi shows how quickly the definition of a ghost kitchen company can change.
Originally built around cloud kitchen infrastructure and technology, Kitopi has expanded into restaurant ownership and multiple foodservice formats. The company says it now operates more than 200 locations across seven countries.
Its portfolio spans delivery, dine-in restaurants and other food concepts, illustrating how operators are combining digital infrastructure with physical hospitality.
This evolution is significant. Early ghost kitchen models often assumed that removing dining rooms would produce superior economics. The industry’s experience has shown that consumer-facing locations can still provide important benefits, including brand visibility and additional sales channels.
Kitopi’s development suggests the future may belong to flexible restaurant groups rather than purely invisible kitchens.
8. Deliveroo Editions maintains the delivery hub model
Deliveroo Editions takes another approach by operating delivery-focused kitchen hubs where restaurant partners can prepare food closer to areas of high customer demand.
For restaurant businesses, the model can enable geographic expansion without requiring a conventional restaurant in every neighbourhood. It can also help existing restaurants separate high volumes of delivery orders from dine-in operations.
That distinction matters as delivery becomes a permanent part of restaurant demand.
A busy restaurant designed primarily for seated customers can struggle when couriers, takeaway customers and dining guests compete for the same kitchen capacity. Dedicated delivery infrastructure can reduce that pressure.
The concept demonstrates that ghost kitchens remain relevant when they solve a clearly defined operational problem.
9. Creator-led virtual restaurants become more disciplined
Celebrity and influencer restaurant brands generated considerable attention during the first ghost kitchen boom. The next generation is becoming more operationally sophisticated.
Companies such as Taster demonstrate how concepts can be tested before large-scale expansion. Digital engagement provides useful information about potential audiences, while delivery data can show which dishes generate repeat purchases.
This represents a change from launching a celebrity name across as many kitchens as possible.
Successful creator-led concepts need reliable franchisees or kitchen partners, consistent recipes, appropriate packaging and economics that survive delivery-platform commissions.
For restaurant operators, a large online following may create initial demand, but it does not remove the fundamentals of running a food business.
10. Hybrid kitchens combine digital and physical dining
Perhaps the strongest sign of where the sector is heading is the declining distinction between ghost kitchens and conventional restaurants.
Wonder has customer-facing locations. Taster is developing physical restaurants. Kitopi operates dine-in brands alongside delivery operations. Rebel Foods has also expanded into formats that combine physical customer access with its cloud kitchen expertise.
Hybrid models give operators more options. One location can potentially serve delivery customers, takeaway orders and limited dine-in demand while maintaining digitally driven operations.
This flexibility could prove more resilient than a rigid delivery-only approach.
Ghost kitchens enter their next phase
The first ghost kitchen boom was built around a simple proposition: remove the dining room, reduce property costs and use delivery platforms to reach customers.
Experience has demonstrated that the reality is harder. Delivery commissions, customer acquisition, packaging, food quality and competition can quickly erode the apparent cost advantages.
Yet the concept continues to evolve.
Wonder is combining multiple restaurant brands in individual orders. Chick-fil-A and Pressed Juicery are using delivery kitchens to expand established brands. Rebel Foods is sharing infrastructure across multiple concepts, while Taster is connecting creators with scalable restaurant operations. Kitopi, meanwhile, demonstrates how a cloud kitchen company can develop into a broader hospitality group.
For the food industry, the lesson is increasingly clear. Ghost kitchens work best when the format solves a specific commercial problem rather than existing simply because delivery demand is growing.
