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BetterSuite is built for teams who see on-demand as a business — not a feature.
How to start a ghost kitchen comes down to four steps: choose where your orders will come from, pick a kitchen model, sort your licences and win your first customers. Settle the first before you sign a lease, because nobody finds a ghost kitchen by passing its door. Use delivery marketplaces to get found, move customers to your own food delivery software, and fit your menu and kitchen to that plan.
A ghost kitchen cooks for delivery from a commercial kitchen with no customer-facing storefront. The ghost kitchen business model gives up the random walk-in customer. Dining-room rent and front-of-house staff fall away, while commission and the cost of winning customers rise. Whether you end up ahead depends on volume and channel mix.
In our view the model leaves fewer ways to disappoint a customer. With no dining room to run, what is left is the food, the packaging, the handover and whether people trust a kitchen they cannot see.
The model does not bring you customers, so plan to win them on purpose. Of the first wave, restaurant consultant John Gordon told CNN in December 2023: "There was no identity or marketing behind the ghost kitchens. Consequently, the sales were too low."
Your order channel — marketplaces, your own app or both — decides what you can afford to cook and where. Commission and courier costs come out of each order, so they set the menu prices that work.
They also shape the lease. As of November 2026, DoorDash's merchant pricing offers customers "nearby" at 15% commission, a "wider delivery radius" at 25% and the "widest delivery range" at 30% on US delivery orders. A cheaper site further from your customers can mean a higher commission on every order, and a long lease is hard to undo.
| Marketplaces only | Own channel only | Both | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What each order costs | Their share, plus any ads | Card processing, delivery, software, support, marketing | A shifting mix of both |
| Who delivers | Their couriers, unless you self-deliver | Your drivers or a paid courier service | Both |
| Who holds the customer | Mostly the marketplace | You | You, once they switch |
| What to check before the lease | Which plan reaches your customers from this site | What couriers cost across the area | Both, plus two order screens and menus |
Marketplaces are a quick way to be found, and starting on them alone is reasonable while you test a concept. Staying there is the risk, because you never stop paying their share or following their rules.
The share. Uber Eats' merchant terms list 20%, 25% and 30% in the US. New York City caps these fees by law, which limits the share without removing it.
The rules. Uber's terms may be amended "in its sole discretion, from time to time", and Uber "controls the factors that impact the order, frequency and ranking in which all merchants appear". This has already reached ghost kitchens: CNN reported that in 2023 Uber Eats "cracked down on ghost kitchens, removing thousands of listings".
Marketplaces now sell direct ordering too, and DoorDash's is commission-free apart from a payment processing fee. The channel is still their product, under their terms.
Your own channel costs money too, so price each line before you assume its orders are cheaper. Uber Direct starts at $7.99 a delivery in the US, more than a 25% commission on a $20 order. Your own drivers, a customer-paid delivery fee or a larger basket change that sum.
What you buy is control. You run your own offers, keep the customer relationship, and no single marketplace can rank you out of your own business. Our guide to direct ordering sets out the case.
With your channel settled, how to start a ghost kitchen becomes a question of which kitchen and which permits. DoorDash describes four models: a shared kitchen, several brands from one kitchen, a third-party managed kitchen, and a virtual brand run from an existing restaurant, which keeps its dining room and walk-ins. Before you sign, check zoning, ventilation, power and courier access.
In the US, your food permit usually comes from your local health department, and business licences and zoning from other local offices.
UK operators often call this a dark kitchen. If you are working out how to set up a dark kitchen in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, register with your local authority at least 28 days before trading. You also need HACCP-based food safety procedures, and the law requires you to provide allergen information.
DoorDash's October 2026 guide puts the ghost kitchen startup cost at roughly $75,000 to $200,000, and shared kitchen space at $1,000 to $3,000 a month. CloudKitchens, which rents kitchens, says $10,000 to $60,000. Both sell this model, so get local quotes.
Guides on how to start a ghost kitchen often leave marketing until last. With no walk-ins, it is your front door. Start with one question: who should order from you, and when? Name the customer and the meal — office lunches, Friday family dinners — and keep to one concept and a focused menu.
Treat your marketplace listing as your storefront because, as DoorDash tells its merchants, customers decide on your menu text and photos. Photograph real portions, name dishes descriptively and keep hours accurate.
Marketplace ads and discounts bring first orders from new customers. A better price in your own app gives them a reason to switch, and a card or QR code in the bag tells them it exists. Check your marketplace contract before you do either, because rules on charging less elsewhere vary by marketplace and city.
Keep social marketing local and easy to order from, and count both the fee and the free meals when you pay a creator. Then test a partnership with an office, gym or apartment community.
Google allows delivery-only brands a Business Profile if they have distinct branded packaging and a distinct website. Ask for honest reviews, but never offer an incentive for one.
A first order can lose money on purpose, provided later orders recover it.
This hypothetical marketplace order, with illustrative figures, shows how quickly marketing uses up its contribution: the money left after its own costs, before rent and other fixed costs.
| Hypothetical order | Amount |
|---|---|
| Food revenue | $20 |
| Ingredients, packaging and prep labour | −$9 |
| Platform, payment and delivery | −$5 |
| Contribution before marketing | $6 |
| Promotional discount you fund | −$3 |
| Advertising for this order | −$4 |
| Contribution after marketing | −$1 |
One $6 repeat order for every six new customers wins that loss back. Rent comes on top: at $6 an order, $1,000 to $3,000 a month takes about 170 to 500 orders. Run that sum with your own numbers before you sign.
Until you have evidence that customers return, cap the spend and design every promotion around the margin you can afford. Track contribution per order, cost per new customer, 30- and 60-day repeat rate, refunds, and how many marketplace customers switch to your own app.
Design the repeat order before you spend heavily on the first: recognisable packaging, consistent portions, a quick fix for a missing item, an easy way to order again, and occasional reminders for customers who opted in.
Contact details a marketplace gives you for delivery are not yours to market to, so build your own list through opt-in.
BetterShop is an ordering channel for anyone working out how to start a ghost kitchen without depending on one marketplace. It covers the whole scaling path, from one kitchen to a chain to a large multi-vendor marketplace, and its layout adapts without a rebuild: one store opens straight on its catalogue, up to four get a store picker, and five or more become a marketplace.
Our own terms let us change fees, which is why you can run BetterShop in our cloud, host it yourself or buy the source, and leave our hosting without leaving the software. Plans and licences are on our pricing page.
Customers order through a branded web app from the start; publishing under your own name on the App Store and Google Play takes your own store accounts and app review. You can lower prices with per-product discounts or a paid membership, give your drivers a courier app, answer reviews, send one-off announcements and compare new with returning customers.
Some did. Wendy's committed to 700 delivery kitchens with Reef in 2021. In May 2023 Restaurant Dive reported it was closing its US units, about 15, amid high delivery fees and diners returning to dine-in. Fees, trust and weak marketing are risks you can plan for.
You can, if a customer's orders together leave money after food, platform and marketing costs, and the total covers your rent and other fixed costs. You can grow sales and still lose money on every order, so work it out per channel.
In the US, expect a food permit from your local health department, plus local business licences and zoning approval. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, you register with your local authority before trading.
To see BetterShop's apps working, try the BetterShop demo, which runs as a multi-store marketplace.
