Did You Know Many “Ghost Kitchens” Are Operating Out Of Your Favorite Well-Known Franchises?

Food delivery has been around for a few years now, and a good amount of people are making a decent side (or main) income bringing food from restaurants to people at home.

Did you know, though, that sometimes multiple “restaurants” are operating out of one kitchen – and the name out front is likely one that you know?

People in the know refer to these as “ghost kitchens,” and define them as “restaurants” that have no physical presence of their own and are available for delivery only.

For example, you might think you’re ordering pizza from Pasqually’s, but it’s actually coming from Chuck E. Cheese.

To some people, this is harmless nonsense. To others, it’s sort of like lying and getting them to order from restaurants they would normally not choose.

This TikToker who drives delivery is now outing two separate “ghost kitchens” that operate out of an IHOP.

In it, Ghoulie (@ghouliegolightly) calls them out on the DoorDash app.

“Look at the graphics. It’s obvious. Super Mega Dilla and Thrilled Cheese. Those are both IHOP. Both of these have the same address and it’s IHOP.”

It’s not as if restaurants like IHOP are trying to hide what they’re doing – the diner announced a partnership with virtual provider Nextbite – but it’s not exactly common knowledge, either.

@ghouliegolightly

♬ original sound – Ghoulie

The comments seem to suggest it’s happening more regularly than most people probably believe, though.

“My favorite is ‘it’s just wings’ and it’s chilis haha.”

Lots of Dashers definitely seem to be in the know, for obvious reasons.

“IM A DASHER AND CAN CONFIRM. ‘Cosmic wings’ is run out of the local Applebees.”

Even Denny’s is getting in on the action.

“The Burger Den being Dennys I can’t.”

There are some people who find it less amusing and more problematic, mostly for the workers involved.

“They’re BOTH in my ihop and like… why don’t i get paid for those orders too? like i’m working for THREE companies now.”

Ghoulie herself spoke with the Daily Dot about her post, and has some concerns of her own.

“This raises a couple of questions to me: Is the staff being compensated for working, essentially, for multiple restaurants instead of the single one they got hired and are paid to work for?”

She says that, according to the comments on her post, the answer is no.

“Instead these online orders disrupt the flow of work they have set up to serve the customers they were hired to serve, making their primary job more difficult.”

Image Credit: iStock

There’s also not a lot of accountability, since most customers aren’t aware of exactly who is selling them food in the first place.

“If they get a bad rap for serving garbage, the brand can just disappear and pop back up under another name. That kind of complete lack of transparency, I believe, in a business model that encourages absolute minimum investment to generate maximize profits, leads to something that ultimately isn’t good for the community.”

I’m not sure what I think about this.

On the one hand, maybe I wouldn’t choose to order a burger from Denny’s, but on the other hand, if it’s a good burger, do I care?

Eh. When it comes to the people working there, though, they might feel differently – and rightly so.