The Hatchery, based in Tampa, Florida, has launched four ghost kitchens in the Tampa Bay area.
The ghost kitchens will be operating out of these four Beef O’ Brady’s locations:
- Northdale, 15784 N. Dale Mabry Highway
- Apollo Brach, 205 Apollo Beach Blvd.
- Citrus Park, 8568 Gunn Highway
- New Port Richey, 5546 Main St.
“Launching the Hatchery as a ghost kitchen gave us a great insight into how well concepts with drive-thrus performed in the pandemic. We built the foundation of The Hatchery kitchen and the product flows so that we could accommodate a drive-thru fairly easy,” said Scott SirLouis, chief operating officer of FSC Franchise Co., The Hatchery’s parent company in a statement.
The Hatchery takes chicken and pairs it with a range of different classic and spicy marinades and breading. This chicken lineup includes sandwiches, tenders, wings and salads with a wide variety of dipping sauces.
Virtual kitchens impact on chicken foodservice
While third-party delivery apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grub Hub continue to grow, more chicken restaurants are beginning to invest in virtual or ghost kitchens.
These kitchens operate within a restaurant but cook food that is sold directly through a third-party delivery platform only. For example, It’s Just Wings is entirely a virtual, delivery only chicken brand.
“Between our exclusive partnership with DoorDash, more than 1,000 company-owned kitchens across the country and 45 years of operational expertise, we had the secret recipe to leverage our scale to provide quality food at a value straight to the guest’s door,” said Wyman Roberts, CEO of It’s Just Wings, to WATTPoultry.com in a recent interview.
Third-party delivery platforms offer convenience to busy consumers. With some consumers continuing to work from home, these virtual brands could see an even greater increase in popularity.
COVID-19 had a great impact on these virtual brands and more people now know about them. Only 35% of consumers surveyed had known what a virtual brand was in October 2020, compared to 50% in March 2021.
