Lemon Foodlab: Thus the Dark Kitchen is consolidated in the big cities
Para bien o para mal la pandemia ha cambiado los hábitos de consumo de los ciudadanos españoles. Especialmente, los de aquellos que residen en grandes ciudades. El cierre de la hostelería durante los meses más duros de la crisis sanitaria propició además la aparición de alternativas. «Adaptarse o morir«, pensarían muchos empresarios al transformar sus restaurantes en servicios de comida a domicilio o delivery. En medio de este fenómeno surgieron las ‘dark kitchen’, también llamadas ‘cocinas fantasma’.
According to data application at home Justeat, in Spain it is already a business that moves740 million euros.In addition, it is expected that by 2023 the forecasts are 1,300 million euros.But what is a Dark Kitchen?A Dark Kitchen - for whom he has not yet heard of them - is a kitchen that is installed in a commercial premises and is dedicated exclusively to home food.
Alejandro Sepulcre, CEO and co -founder of Lemon Foodlab, saw the perfect opportunity to establish this type of business in a pioneering way in Valencia.This entrepreneur already had experience in the hotel sector before embarking on this adventure.«We had an event company.We had already worked at gastronomic and music festivals, artisanal fairs, the car ... But, after a research and marketing process and market study we found this project, ”he says.
From the organization of events to ghost kitchen
With only two employees, Sepulcre reveals that adapting its business model has been a completely new path."Between organizing a catering for an event and starting a Dark Kitchen the operability model is totally different," he says.And he explains why this statement: «A Dark Kitchen is the day -to -day proof.Thinking about how to get to your client through the different online channels requires a lot of time.In the events reaching people is easier.It depends on the place of the clear event, but for example it is celebrated in a town that is not a provincial capital people already have it waiting for time and goes into mass «.
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And he adds: "For an event you prepare the operation for three days, but a Dark Kitchen is a constant operation of seven days a week."
A good year for Delivery
If something characterizes the year 2021 is that, without a doubt, it has been the year of the consolidation of home service.Clothing, food, medicines, flowers ... Few products resist being transported in a large backpack and delivered to their buyers at the same door of their home.The implementation of ghost cuisine in the city of Valencia has been "much better than we expected."There was desire.Above all, if we take into account that the closure of the hospitality industry at the beginning of the year hugely made it difficult for dinner or eat away from home.Of course, he says that with the arrival of summer, in June, "Delivery hit a brutal downturn compared to the previous months."
Are you afraid that when the pandemic ends the ‘Delivery Fever’ is over?«Delivery grows every year and will continue to grow.In the end, it is a future trend in every business model, from asking for shoes to ordering the weekly purchase.But, it is true that people now want to leave and want to be as long as possible.The decrease in demand comes from there, but I think the concept must still be stated and that it will continue to grow «.
Precisely with respect to the future of the Dark Kitchen, the CEO of Lemon Foodlab believes that the phenomenon will not be "as exaggerated as it can be in some countries of Europe or in the United States", but that "it will have its hole in the market,It is going to settle although in Spain for culture we value much more to go out for something outside, to buy in the supermarket itself or to try the clothes in the store «.
Pioneers in the concept ‘Dark Kitchen’
«90 % of success is based on insisting," says Rotundo Sepulcre when we ask what advice would give to another entrepreneur.«At the beginning, even if you do not see results or do not see the clear address, always throw forward.Being active means that opportunities and results arrive.If not, you stagnate and stay in your room locked in four walls, ”he adds.
When starting his business Sepulcre says that the most difficult thing was to “face a very competitive market with your resources and your knowledge«.«You see yourself in a sea of sharks and you are a fish.It is also this difficulty that challenges yourself and makes you improve because you have to look for a differential value or an innovative or differentiating element, "he argues.