Phone apps feed rise of delivery-only restaurants

(21 Oct 2019) CUSTOMERS COME TO FRATO'S CULINARY KITCHEN FOR THEIR PIZZA AND BURGERS.
BUT THEIR GRILLED CHEESE RESTAURANT DOESN'T GET ANY FOOT TRAFFIC – BECAUSE IT'S ONE OF THOUSANDS OF SO-CALLED "VIRTUAL RESTAURANTS" POPPING UP ACROSS THE U.S
SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Kudrna, president / owner of Frato's Culinary Kitchen:
"You have to try to see what trends are coming, and try to get ahead of the game on that as much as possible. And a lot of it happens to be right now virtual restaurants."
VIRTUAL RESTAURANTS ARE ATTACHED TO TRADITIONAL RESTAURANTS BUT MAKE A DIFFERENT KIND OF FOOD JUST FOR DELIVERY — THROUGH PHONE APPS – LIKE UBER EATS, DOOR DASH AND GRUBHUB.
SOUNDBITE (English) Andy Hunt, director for Marquette University Center for Real Estate:
"Consumers are going to rate how good the food is. And if the food's not very good they're not going to be rated very highly and they're not going to do very well. So from that standpoint it's a pretty fair, market driven system."
DIGITAL RESTAURANT ORDERS HAVE  BECOME A NEARLY $30 BILLION MARKET IN THE US, ACCORDING TO THE NPD GROUP.  
SOUNDBITE (English) William Burns, general manager of B Good's Chicago ghost kitchen:
"As real estate prices go up and rents go up in prime locations here in downtown Chicago, there's restaurants that are looking to have their footprint here in the city that just can't afford to do your traditional brick and mortar."
IN CHICAGO, B GOOD OPERATES AS A GHOST KITCHEN – WHERE IT DOESN'T HAVE A STOREFRONT AND ONLY MAKES FOOD FOR DELIVERY AND TAKEOUT.
THE RESTAURANT, WHICH MAKES GRAIN BOWLS, SALADS AND WRAPS, LEASES SPACE  FROM A COMPANY LOOKING TO BECOME A LEADER IN VIRTUAL KITCHENS CALLED KITCHEN UNITED.
KITCHEN UNITED IS BACKED BY $10 MILLION IN GOOGLE MONEY. IT ALREADY HAS LOCATIONS IN CHICAGO AND ONE IN CALIFORNIA, BUT PLANS TO OPEN 40 MORE BY NEXT YEAR.
OVER IN SAN FRANCISCO, TOP ROUND STARTED AS A ROAST BEEF RESTAURANT BUT THEN DISCOVERED THE DEMAND FOR OTHER KINDS OF FOOD IN THE AREA.
SOUNDBITE (English) Ricky Lopez, owner of Top Round Roast Beef:
"Uber Eats actually approached us because they were the first ones to sort of test out these virtual restaurants. And that did extremely well with us, so we kind of just built off that and more."
THAT LEAD TO THREE DELIVERY ONLY RESTAURANTS – WITH DIFFERENT SPECIALTIES FROM CHICKEN TO ICE CREAM.
SOUNDBITE (English) Ricky Lopez, owner of Top Round Roast Beef:
"You can use your existing team and just brings in more, you know, opportunities that make more sales overall."
RESTAURANTS MODERNIZING THEIR APPROACH TO CATER TO A CHANGING INDUSTRY. CARRIE ANTLFINGER, ASSOCIATED PRESS

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