Dunedin is saturated with cheap, easy food joints within walking distance for most students, yet more and more are offering delivery through third-party apps like UberEats. Too many, in fact – some of the restaurants offered on delivery apps don’t actually exist as physical stores. The team at Critic Te Ārohi investigated these shadow restaurants in Dunedin, or what happens when restaurants go “dark”.
Most local restaurants have to have a presence on delivery apps like UberEats or DeliverEasy to get by, with many increasing this presence by becoming “dark kitchens”, or delivery-only restaurant franchises. According to the UberEats website for merchants, dark kitchens are restaurants that only sell via online food delivery services – their menu items can only be ordered online and have to be delivered, with no dine-in option available. There’s also “ghost kitchens”, which are usually defined as a subset of dark kitchens. These are large businesses that operate solely out of commercial kitchens without a brick-and-mortar storefront that customers can enter. In this manner, ghost kitchens can circumvent almost all startup costs (and occasionally health regulations) to enable YouTube fuckos to spawn hundreds of delivery-only locations.
“Virtual restaurants'', on the other hand, are the lesser-known but more prevalent counterpart to true ghost kitchens. They’re a type of dark kitchen that operates out of an established restaurant with a physical storefront. They are propped up within brick-and-mortar restaurants but tend to function as their own distinct brands with separate menus (or occasionally the exact same menu, with a price markup). Take Biggie’s Pizza, for example, which owns four virtual restaurants, including one that sells poutine through their online menu called All Gravy Baby. When our reporter tried to order in person, however, he was shit out of luck. He eventually placed an order for All Gravy Baby on DeliverEasy, only to pay to have it delivered all the way from Biggie’s kitchen to where he was seated outside.
Think of it like this: owning a virtual restaurant is like having a private account on social media to keep your spam and memes separate from your main, while ghost kitchens are like getting bots to make all of your posts for you.
However, feel free to take these definitions with a grain of salt (delivery fee included). This information is from an UberEats guide for merchants that details setting up a virtual restaurant, which seems to be ridiculously easy and with a less spooky name to boot. It’s no wonder that UberEats seems to encourage businesses to set up virtual restaurants; UberEats charges a commission fee of 30%.
While Critic has not identified any true ghost kitchens currently haunting our streets, there are over a dozen virtual restaurants on delivery apps in the Dunedin area that lack a corporeal body. However, they do list addresses on delivery apps, and by cross-checking almost every restaurant’s location Critic is here to serve our main takeaways on dark kitchens in Dunedin, from Huzur Kebab to Night ‘n Day.
Your Guide to Dunedin’s Dark Kitchens:
Bowl’d and EGG’d - Pita Pit
Pita Pit, the multinational chain known for pitas and wraps, has three listings on UberEats. Capitalising on the donburi bowl or “buddha bowl” (blegh) trend is their delivery-only dark kitchen: Bowl’d. Their other franchise, EGG’d, is basically just egg sandwiches. Bowl’d and EGG’d both list their UberEats address as the Pita Pit George Street location. As is the case with many dark or virtual restaurants, Bowl’d serves the exact same rice and salad bowls as Pita Pit, just with pre-selected and more marketable options – that are also more expensive, of course.
Jimbo’s Fried Chicken and Orleans - Dunedin Social Club
These two trendy-looking fried chicken restaurants are just Social Club under a different name, in case you want to pay extra for bar food. Note: though previously open, both restaurants are listed as ‘unavailable’, with a limited menu for Orleans and shorter hours for Jimbo’s. Workers at Dunedin Social Club commented that the virtual restaurants aren’t really part of their “business model” anymore.
Sweets N Vibes and Kebabs N Chips - Huzur Kebab
Surprisingly, locally beloved Huzur Kebab is absent from UberEats, but you can get your munchies fix through Kebabs N Chips. Sweets N Vibes is apparently just Huzur’s Ben & Jerry’s fridge, with the same address and slightly different flavour options. According to the DeliverEasy app, Huzur Kebab is “exclusive to DeliverEasy'' where they launched prior to joining UberEats, which may explain the name change.
White Goat Curry Corner - Mela Eatery
George Street’s Indo-Nepalese curry joint has two restaurants on UberEats: the physical store Mela Eatery, and the virtual-only kitchen White Goat Curry Corner. Unlike some of the other restaurants that subdivide their menu into more clickable options, Mela and White Goat Curry Corner have the exact same menu, but White Goat curries are a couple bucks cheaper – enough to have a ‘$’ rating instead of Mela’s ‘$$’ which may aid price-related filtering in the app.
All Gravy Baby, Nugg Life, Nacho Daddy and Calzones - Biggie’s Pizza
NYC-style pizza joint Biggie’s Pizza has four delivery-only virtual restaurants on DeliverEasy, as well as Biggie’s Pizza, the physical store they’re based in. With catchy, punny names like Nugg Life and Nacho Daddy they were pretty easy to spot as dark kitchens, with typical niche foods on offer (and a DeliverEasy exclusive to boot).
Just Wing It - Emerson’s Brew Bar
Though more of a rebranding than a dark kitchen, we’re doing our duty to let you know that Just Wing It is actually Emerson’s Brew Bar. While Emerson’s aren’t on UberEats as themselves, meaning they aren’t using the virtual restaurant strategy to increase their scrolling real estate, getting wings from what looks like a small, dedicated wing store is that much more appealing than paying an arm and a leg (plus delivery) for chicken from a beer brand. Still, whatever floats your foam.
Dessert King - Pizza Bella/Burger Bella
Interestingly, while Pizza Bella/Burger Bella no longer operates here as its main franchise on UberEats, they have a presence as Dessert King as a waffle shop.
Ben & Jerry’s North Dunedin - Night ‘n Day (North D)
Night ‘n Day on Regent Street don’t sell Ben & Jerry’s, but also they do. Ben & Jerry’s North Dunedin is a separate Uber-only store run out of Night ‘n Day. When we asked the manager if you can buy Ben & Jerry’s ice cream from the in-person store (which would be awesome), they replied, “Actually, no, and I have no idea why.”
Burgers with Bite and Sir Benedict - The Coffee Club
The Coffee Club in Meridian Mall (which apparently people go to) is part of a large multinational franchise that owns several virtual restaurants, among which are Burgers with Bite and Sir Benedict, a breakfast/brunch UberEats store. In a 2021 interview from QSR Australia, their international brand manager described their virtual restaurants as geared towards “millennials”, which explains a lot, actually.
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How to spot a dark kitchen/virtual restaurant:
Here are five common traits of virtual restaurants. While not universal, these can give you a pretty good idea of what to look out for and how to know when to check before you order.
⦁ It’s unfamiliar. Dunedin is pretty small, and students tend to know local food joints like the back of your Macbook. You usually hear about new (physical) restaurants that turn up, so if something is nearby on a delivery app and looks unfamiliar, it’s worth going to the ‘info’ section and double checking that address.
⦁ It’s got a catchy name. Virtual restaurants are based entirely online, and are therefore marketed to be as clickable as possible, so they tend to feature punny or flashy names that make you want to check them out.
⦁ Their menu is based around a single (usually trendy) food type. Think USA- or Korean-style fast food, poke bowls, and street food. Virtual kitchens are usually the subdivided menu of another business, so tend to offer simpler menus that are dedicated to a trendy, marketable product versus a diverse menu you’d see in person.
⦁ It’s heavily marketed in-app. Merchants on Uber pay for the deals and promotions that make them turn up on your feed first, as well as affecting your personal recommendations. For virtual restaurants, this is usually essential.
⦁ It’s delivery-only and/or app “exclusive”. Virtual restaurants can’t offer pick up or dine-in options, and are sometimes listed as exclusive to a certain delivery app. At least they’re open about it
It’s always good to know where your food is coming from even if you do decide on ordering from a virtual restaurant. Most of the time, you can easily confirm this by googling the address listed and seeing what’s at the location.
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Nowadays, even virtual restaurants are struggling, but they were certainly profitable during the pandemic when many of them first opened. It makes sense: more restaurants equals a higher chance of being noticed on delivery apps (especially when they’re marketed to be shown first), and it does mean that it can be easier to find what you’re after. Unless you knew beforehand, you wouldn’t think to go to Pizza Bella when you’re craving waffles – and they do look pretty yum. However, though relatively harmless, the subdivision of brick-and-mortar restaurants into different online stores can give the wrong impression, and does feel slightly deceptive.
The way in which virtual restaurants tend to sell dedicated trendy food items gives the impression of a specialised indie food joint, which is especially appealing to modern young consumers who want to support what looks like a “new” local business. When restaurants can create dark kitchens so easily – and are encouraged to do so by delivery apps – it’s hard to know if you’re supporting a cool new burger place (where you’d assume local ingredients and ownership) or buying from a huge multinational franchise like The Coffee Club.
The level of openness about dark kitchens also varies between restaurants, and the faceless manner of virtual restaurants also takes away from your options as a consumer. All of the local businesses we chatted to were quite open about having virtual restaurants linked to their addresses – even the staff at Pita Pit, a multinational franchise, readily pointed us to a kiosk where they openly had their virtual brands linked. This is distinct from the way many dark kitchens operate, where ownership of their restaurants is kept well out of view.
Finding out that The Coffee Club’s virtual restaurants were owned by them and not a separate ghost-kitchen type franchise took a bit more digging, though the Burgers with Bite website maybe hints at it with their slogan: “Unethically sauced since 2020”. Documents we uncovered from The Coffee Club’s retailer hub details “compliance information” for restaurant branch owners, emphasising to check that no Coffee Club packaging or receipts can be included with Burgers with Bite orders: “It’s essential to the credibility and success of Burgers with Bite that the two brands are kept completely separate.”
When virtual restaurant branding is separated in this way, it takes away both choice and awareness for consumers, while adding a higher price tag. Fractioning restaurants into single-food type retailers means that you could easily order your fix from what you think are two restaurants and have them delivered from one, after paying the delivery and service fee twice (like we did for this article). Restaurants can easily open as many virtual stores as they like, taking up a substantial amount of space delivery apps, swallowing competition, and creating the illusion of choice. What’s more is that virtual restaurants can’t really be reviewed; delivery apps only show averaged star ratings, with no option to see individual customer feedback or reviews.
If you knew that The Coffee Club were actually Burgers with Bite and often receive 1-star ratings and negative reviews for their food on Google, you might be much more hesitant to order from Burgers with Bite. While the easy setup of virtual restaurants provides the opportunity for trialling new and interesting food, it often leads to redundancy, high markup, and an oversaturation of identical products. On UberEats, The Coffee Club sells a ‘Crispy Chicken Strip & Bacon Burger’ with chips for $29.90, while a ‘Barnyard’ burger from Burgers with Bite is $24.50 – but chips will cost you an extra $15. And yep, you guessed it – they’re the exact same burger.
The illusion of an authentic, dedicated small business that virtual restaurants provide often means that consumers are more likely to be okay with paying a higher price for what they think is a specialty product. Brands are aware of it, too: on UberEats, Burgers with Bite also sells smoothies and coffee, which are under the header “Partnering and supporting your local cafe.” It’s technically true, if “local” means “The Coffee Club in the mall owned by a multinational franchise.”
Though getting more customers through owning virtual restaurants can be a great way for (actual) small local businesses to stay afloat, even that can have its downsides. UberEats takes away a 30% commission from each order delivered by their drivers, whether from a virtual restaurant or a physical one. Though most places charge extra for their food on delivery platforms to compensate (plus other fees), it seems like even virtual restaurants can feel the heat of the competing market, with businesses like Mela Eatery opening cheaper restaurants as dark kitchens. We all know UberEats can be a godsend when you’re stuck at home with the munchies, but we tend to forget that many local restaurants offer delivery through their own websites. Without the cuts from third-party delivery corporations, restaurant delivery or getting off your ass and dining-in is a much better way to show your appreciation.
(Left: Burgers with Bite. Right: The Coffee Club. Not that it matters)