Do virtual kitchens offer more online ordering options? It depends

Scrolling through a food delivery app in Regina can feel like doomscrolling through a social media feed.

As of last week, UberEats had 206 businesses listed that would deliver food to the CBC Saskatchewan office in Regina. 

But do all of these restaurants really exist? Some vendors on the food delivery app include business names that don't have an independent physical location, meaning it's possible for a customer to order food out of the same kitchen that creates food for a differently named restaurant.

For example, at least seven distinct Regina retailers on UberEats and SkipTheDishes — Dessert Club, Chicken Hut, Smash Hamburgur, Subs and Wraps Shop, The Burger Grill, YQR Burgers and Broken Egg — list the same address as that of Western Pizza at 2125 11th Ave.

There are no signs at the location to suggest these seven restaurants run out of the same place. Western Pizza did not respond to multiple interview requests.

These restaurants, also known as virtual kitchens, are concerning to some people in the food business, but embraced by others. 

Jorashanko Mondal, an international student at Saskatchewan Polytechnic College, said he's aware of the concept of virtual kitchens, but doesn't agree with it. He said that getting food from the same kitchen can defeat the purpose when he wants to try out new local restaurants. 

"It's like a monopoly is going on and they want to hide the monopoly, which is kind of disingenuous. They also want to brand as different, but also want to give the same product, which is really saddening because it kind of betrays the customer," he said.

Jaco Van Heerden is the founder and CEO of a Regina-based food delivery startup called Chow Local. He said some virtual kitchens aren't fair to the customers because they could end up ordering from a familiar restaurant while thinking they were trying something different. 

"From a consumer standpoint or the person that's ordering food, I think it's also problematic because you get a false sense of choice," he said. 

He said the number of online eateries increased during the COVID-19 pandemic and he's starting to see the effects.

The concept of "ghost kitchens," a term sometimes used interchangeably with virtual kitchens, also accelerated during the pandemic. Like virtual kitchens, ghost kitchens offer online ordering, but the difference is they do not have a storefront or eat-in dining. 

Heerden said Chow Local works differently than food delivery apps such as UberEats, SkipTheDishes and DoorDash. Chow Local doesn't take a commission on every food order, but charges a monthly fee to restaurants to be on the app, which Heerden said reduces the number of virtual kitchens.

He said on other apps, larger chains can crowd out smaller local restaurants that don't have the resources to run multiple menus.