Given how convenient it is to tap a few buttons and have someone bring dinner to your door, food delivery isn't likely to drop in popularity anytime soon. Wendy's is looking to meet surging demand by opening hundreds of delivery-only kitchens in the next few years. The likes of Uber Eats, DoorDash and Grubhub will handle orders.
Wendy's is planning to open 700 such kitchens in the US, UK and Canada by 2025, as the Associated Press reports. The locations will primarily be in major cities and the first 50 should be up and running this year.
Reef Technology, which already manages around 5,000 so-called "ghost kitchens," will open the Wendy's locations and hire workers. Wendy's will take around a six percent cut of sales, which are expected to hit at least $500,000 annually at each kitchen.
The concept of ghost kitchens has been around for several years. They're kitchens without storefronts that make food orders only for delivery or pickup — some are run out of existing brick-and-mortar restaurants. Other fast food chains have experimented with the idea, including Chick-fil-A and Chipotle. Meanwhile, YouTuber MrBeast uses ghost kitchens for his burger chain, which has more than 900 locations.