The business model of dark kitchens, or ghost kitchens, saved thousands of businesses and jobs after the arrival of the pandemic. But it has also been the sign that things can be done differently.

Due to the health emergency, in Mexico City alone, approximately 13,500 restaurants closed, according to data from Inegi. As a consequence, it is estimated that some 50,000 people became unemployed, leaving many professionals in the industry without any income or economic solvency.

Many dark kitchens, known for being kitchens without a restaurant and that prepare food only for delivery, have partnered with delivery apps such as Uber Eats, Rappi or Didi Food to make themselves known among users and receive orders, but a constant complaint is the high commissions charged by these platforms, which range between 30 and 40%.

But the good news is that dark kitchens can grow without the need for these technological intermediaries. As an example are the stories of three food businesses that managed to create their own logistics and deal directly with customers.

Chubbies Burger

In March 2020, Rodrigo Ulises Torices, together with a friend from high school, began looking for a place to set up their hamburger business, however, the Covid-19 pandemic arrived and stopped their plans for almost three months. At that time they began to investigate the trend of a dark kitchen, so Rodrigo said "if we want to open or do something, it must be now and it has to be this format."

"I see this format much better because we are not going to invest as much and that way it helps us to see if people like our product and throw ourselves into doing something bigger, that's how Chubbies Burger came about," Rodrigo, who is a founding partner, says in an interview. .

This venture began with a kitchen at home, with a six-screw stove, a griddle that had been made and a fryer. Currently that is the branch of the Roma neighborhood.

They distribute their products in their three branches located in Roma, Clavería, Progreso in the south and soon, in Satélite.

“The first delivery system we had was that you spoke during the week and set it aside for the weekend, but it was chaos. We had no restaurant experience at all, obviously we are still learning and trying to improve things. One of our pillars is customer service, experience and food”, indicates the founding partner.

At first they looked for DiDi and Uber Eats to deliver the hamburgers, however, the cost of the commission for each shipment was around 30 to 40%, so they decided not to go out with them, they took advantage of the fact that one of the partners had a motorcycle and they jumped in, their first hire was that of a delivery man, they created their own delivery system in an excel and thus from scratch they had their delivery system, now in each branch they have a delivery coordinator who routes the orders.

“Unless we reach a good deal with them (Uber and DiDi) we would be willing to use them; if not, for now we are fine with our delivery system. Each branch has its shipping system up to nine kilometers around, because if it goes beyond that, they charge 40 or 50 pesos for shipping,” Rodrigo mentions.

Although they are successful with the dark kitchen modality and plan to open more branches with this concept, they do not rule out having a restaurant fit to receive diners.

Homies Pizza, the lifeline

More than taking advantage of the opportunity, Homies Pizza was born out of necessity, out of a plan of salvation. Juan José Saez was left without a job in the pandemic, since one of the hardest hit sectors was the restaurateur, where he worked.

After obtaining a bank loan, Juan José took the phone and spoke with his acquaintances in the restaurant sector, in which he has 12 years of experience. Immediately, three people said yes to the pizza adventure and in October 2020 they opened their store in Roma, with a stone oven that measures one and a half meters. There are currently 10 people and they already have three stores.

“We started as four people, we started like this little by little, we have been taking small steps forward and people have liked the proposal. It has been trial and error, as well as a personal taste of mine, ”he indicates.

The profits are going to be reinvested and currently new people have joined to invest, in addition to being open to more joining if someone wants to contribute capital to the business and at the same time have a stake in Homies Pizza.

They, unlike Chubbies Burger, are on delivery platforms. However, they do not promote them at all, since they agree that "the commissions are very high", so they have their own delivery men, they hope to invest more in technology to have their web app ready and thus the orders are easier and more comfortable for the client.

New experiences for the diner

More and more SMEs see that it is possible to sell their products and services on the internet without the need for an intermediary or to be in a marketplace, and a social network profile becomes a sales channel. This is the 'Social Commerce', a trend that is gaining popularity in the world, Mexico included.

In 2020, 56 million people made purchases through Facebook in the United States, according to a study by Emcosur. If Mexico has 86.8 million internet users, of which 82% have a Facebook account, the market is much larger.

This is how it is for Jonathan Weintraub, founding partner of Schmaltzy Bros, a brand of pastrami sandwiches that have brought the New York flavor to the comfort of our homes, but don't get confused, they send you everything (including the instructions) so that you can put together the sandwich.

“We are not on any platform, they have been insisting on entering, but the commission is very high. We handle everything ourselves, that has been a challenge to see the logistics, so we have a driver and we also deliver orders. We generate a route and send the driver with 10 orders,” Jonathan Weintraub said in an interview.

Given the impossibility of continuing with their usual businesses of school cafeterias and catering due to the pandemic, the Weintraub family took on the task of creating this home delivery service, they prepare all cold meats, which is their specialty, they make pastrami and corned beef, they process it from scratch, and they are also in charge of preparing the dressings, breads and pickles.

In April 2020, Schmaltzy Bros started with a capital of 50 thousand pesos. Now they have five employees, the whole family participates in the production and delivery process, from the profits they are a company and in the end everyone has a salary.

“Our biggest challenge was to explain and get people used to it because at first people told me, how am I going to pay you 1,200 pesos for four sandwiches and they are not even going to arrive prepared. Convincing people that it wasn't such a bad idea for them to make their own sandwich is challenging,” says Jonathan.

Although the pandemic has brought us so many problems, it has also been the beginning of stories of entrepreneurship, creativity and resilience, and many of them are in the restaurant industry.

If you also want to undertake and to warm up, we inspire you with these 50 phrases for entrepreneurs who want to succeed.

READ MORE:

Are you interested in the world of entrepreneurship? Get to know Emprendedor.com, the leading content medium for Business Ideas, Startups, Finance, News for entrepreneurs, Franchises, Marketing, Inspiration, follow us and project what you are.