The Growth of Ghost Kitchens in the Restaurant Industry

Necessity-meeting technology played a vital role in the rapid acceleration of ghost

kitchens during the COVID-19 pandemic. The global market size of ghost kitchens grew

to 56.71 Billion dollars in 2021, and the industry forecasts a 112.53 billion ghost kitchen

market by 2027.

While one can typically find ghost kitchens in dense urban areas, there are over an

estimated 1,500 ghost kitchens in the U.S. Barbara Castiglia of Modern Restaurant

Management, host of The Main Course podcast, wanted an insider’s perspective on the

ghost kitchen phenomenon. She found that insider in Mott Smith. Smith is the CEO &

Co-Owner at Amped Kitchens, which rents monthly permit-ready, private commercial

kitchen spaces with a community of dynamic food makers.

Today, Amped Kitchens operates three buildings in Los Angeles and Chicago, but they

are focused on growth with more areas to come.

“Each of these buildings ranges from fifty to over a hundred thousand square feet with

fifty to sixty kitchens inside,” Smith said. “We solve a problem that has tormented the

restaurant and food industry for many years. There hasn’t been a great solution for

companies that are growing out of either their first facilities, whether that’s a home

kitchen, a shared kitchen, a single location, or brick & mortar restaurant. They’re not

ready to invest in multi-million-dollar facilities.”

Castiglia and Smith’s conversation about ghost kitchens includes…

● Smith’s background and how he came to co-found Amped

● The process for restaurants interested in exploring the possibilities of working

with ghost kitchens

● How ghost kitchens create efficiencies that return more bottom-line dollars to

restaurants for future investing

● Ghost kitchen success stories from some of Amped Kitchen’s restaurant and

food clients

“One of my favorite stories is about a company called 4th & Heart Ghee,” Smith said.

“This is a company that makes Ghee, clarified Indian butter. This company was founded

by two young entrepreneurs who came out of professional jobs. They had beautiful

branding; they were at farmer’s markets; they came to us and operated out of one of our

smallest kitchens. After six months of operating with us, they got a massive order from

an online retailer for ten thousand units. They came to us with this life-changing order

that they wanted to say yes to and wanted to move to a larger kitchen. We were, over a

weekend, able to move them to a larger space.”

Mott Smith has an extensive background in real estate development and wholesale

commercial kitchens. Smith holds a B.A. in Linguistics from UCLA and a master’s in real

estate development from USC. He is a founding member of the California Infill Builders

Federations and an Adjunct Professor for Urban Infill Real Estate Development at USC

Price School of Public Policy.