Orlando Virtual Kitchen Guide

Orlando virtual kitchens are pumping out pick-up and delivery-only meals marketed by virtual restaurant brands inside industrial parks, converted storage buildings, and inside existing restaurants' kitchens.

Virtual kitchens, also known as ghost kitchens, virtual restaurants, and cloud kitchens are restaurant brands that offer delivery and take-out only as their means of getting food to their customers. The only way customers can order from these businesses is through delivery apps like Uber Eats and GrubHub.

Another interesting food trend hitting Orlando is the food hall. Check out our Orlando Food Hall Guide to see just how massive that industry will soon be locally.

Often, a virtual kitchen business isn't cooking and selling just one brand and menu. They can put several brands on delivery apps and use one kitchen in which to cook it all. Some restaurants license franchise brands completely unrelated to their own brand and fulfill the orders inside their own kitchens. Other restaurants create their own brands in-house separate from their restaurant's brand. Entrepreneurs use virtual kitchens as a less-expensive way to test a concept or create a full-fledged business.

Virtual kitchens began popping up in Orlando and across the country thanks to the proliferation and popularity of restaurant delivery apps.

Restaurant brands access virtual kitchens in three ways: (1) they use existing kitchens inside existing restaurants (theirs or others') and make meals under a different brand name than that of the restaurant, (2) build their own virtual kitchens inside industrial parks and other nondescript buildings such as converted storage facilities, or (3) rent one or more kitchen spaces located within multi-virtual-kitchen facilities.

Learn more about virtual kitchens at the links below:

CloudKitchens®, a national industry juggernaut, rents individual kitchen spaces to delivery-only restaurant tenants. The public-facing brand for the Orlando location is Dollins Food Hall. This Orlando location was in the works as far back as February 2020 and is now open inside the building at 18 N. Dollins Avenue. According to city documents the facility can contain up to 41 commercial kitchens.

Dollins Food Hall leases space to entities that handle fulfillment for the following virtual restaurant brands:

The Florida Mall, Celebration, and Maitland locations of Italian chain Buca Di Beppo as well as the Mall at Millenia location of also-Italian chain Brio Tuscan Grill are cooking and selling more than what's on their menus these days. Those kitchens are also cooking food for some of the delivery-only brands created and owned by Virtual Dining Concepts, a virtual dining restaurant group created by Buca and Brio's parent company, Earl Enterprises. Virtual Dining Concepts also allows these virtual restaurant brands to be cooked and packaged up for delivery at non-Earl businesses which helps those businesses earn more income from their kitchens. Locally that list includes Andy’s Mini Market at 437 W Kennedy Blvd according to UberEats and Black Rock Bar & Grill at 8965 Conroy Windermere Road according to GrubHub.

Virtual Dining Concepts created and manages the following deliver-only brands:

Ghost Kitchen Orlando offer lunches, prepared meals and catering. For lunch they offer salads, power bowls. sandwiches, and sides. The prepared meals come in packs of 4, 8 and 12. Meals include Cod Cakes, Beef Bourguignon, BBQ Pork, Salmon, Chicken Parmesan, Herb Chicken, Ravioli Lasagna, Ropa Vieja and more. Their catering option offers sandwich trays, boxed lunches, party platters, salads and more.

From the website: "With our Ghost Kitchen business model focusing on delivery and pickup meals only, we do not have a typical restaurant setup with hostesses, servers, bussers, bartenders, and so forth. Because of this, we can focus solely on the quality and freshness of the food here at Ghost Kitchen Orlando, which is what I’ve always valued most. Unlike traditional restaurants, the internet is our storefront as opposed to a traditional brick and mortar location. You can order our prepared meals and catering through our website and can order our weekly lunches through your favorite food delivery apps! At the end of the day, we want to provide you the convenience of a delivered meal, with the same quality and care you would get at a restaurant."

Kitchen AF offers full individual menus of pastas, subs, burgers, grilled cheese sandwiches, deli sandwiches, ribs, wings, burritos, salads, and more.

From the website: "We don’t have a dining room, servers, front of the house manager, bussers or any of the other things a conventional restaurant has that distracts them from their primary job, making great food. As a virtual restaurant, also known as a “ghost kitchen”, our great food is only available for pick up and delivery. Because of this we’re able to focus strictly on making our food the best delivery and pick up available. We’re also faster since we’re focused, no long line of dine in folks ahead of your order. The minute your finger sends the order, we start preparing it. Our menus are designed so that no item takes longer than ten minutes to prepare meaning you get it sooner.

KitchenAF created and manages the following deliver-only brands:

Jimmy Hula Ghost Kitchen Concept

(IN THE WORKS)

Jimmy Hula's will be opening a ghost kitchen in the former Darland Bakery space in the Milk District. It will house several self-created delivery-only brands.