Ghost kitchens no more

Ghost kitchens, a.k.a. cloud kitchens, a.k.a. dark kitchens were expected to account for 21% of the American restaurant industry by 2025.

Author

Natalia Rudakova
May 29, 2023

Hey, guys! This is me, Natalia, a.k.a. Chef Rudakova 👩‍🍳 

I don’t know how about you, but for me this week went by, I didn’t even notice💨 Feels like only yesterday, I was writing the last week’s Weekly Snack.

We’ve celebrated 70k subs on Chef Rudakova YouTube channel 🥳 

You might have noticed that we haven’t been posting new videos for a while. It’s been almost a year actually since Chef Rudakova YT channel had regular weekly video schedule.

With the restaurant work and then pregnancy it wasn’t a very feasible option, unfortunately.

But this week was really crazy for the channel🔥 The views and subs had picked up the pace again. So if this trend continues, we’ll have to seriously consider getting back to regular YouTube schedule again 😅 

Would you like a new video? What would you like to see me cooking? Reply to this email and let me know 😊

In the meantime, let’s get to The Weekly Snack already!

A weekly newsletter for:

  • Food content creators, who want to keep up-to-date with the food & SM trends

  • Food business owners, who wants to successfully use SM to promote your brand

  • Food lovers, who wants to get weekly recap on all the cool food content you can enjoy over the weekend

Top Stories:

  • Ghost kitchens no more

  • The most expensive ice-cream in the galaxy 🔭

  • YouTube community posts for everyone

  • Amazon Creator Program

  • Creator spotlight with Eddie Shepherd

  • Making 6 figures with a baking blog

Trending

Industry News Digest

🍽️ The legendary Crate&Barrel collabs with an American Chef and food writer (senior editor for Bon Appétit magazine), Molly Baz, on a new summer collection.

👻 Ghost kitchens no more.

Ghost kitchens, a.k.a. cloud kitchens, a.k.a. dark kitchens were expected to account for 21% of the American restaurant industry by 2025.

And yet it doesn’t seem to become the case. Wendy’s announced that they are closing down the entire US ghost kitchen devision and Butler Hospitality (ghost kitchens for hotels) had shut down last year.

Why could this be? I personally was pretty surprised to hear that.

Some may argue that post-pandemic people were simply to eager to run back to the restaurants and stop ordering deliveries.

Well, that may be true, but only part of the reason.

The main reason is as usual when it comes to disruptive startups, is overvaluation and too much eagerness for growth.

Ghost kitchen simply grew too fast for the delivery platforms and consumer demand to handle.

It turned out that the price of operating a restaurant that delivers nothing but air is way too expensive when compared to the good ol' fast food way.

So yet again, fast food drive-thrus prevail!

👩‍🍳 Chef Works becomes the exclusive distributor if Bragard uniforms in the US.

🤑🍦 Want to try ice-cream flavored with white truffles from Alba region in Italy and topped up with edible gold, 2 types of cheeses and Japanese “Sake kasu”, a byproduct of sake-making?

Get ready to pay $6,400 🤯

🏆 Roze Traore, a celebrity Chef, model and a newly minted hotelier, is listed in TIME 2023 list of Next Generation Leaders, along with actress Florence Pugh, K-pop band NewJeans and others.

🎪 One of a kind, immersive dining experience by Chef Vladimir Mukhin opened in Dubai. Krasota.

🤖 BuzzFeed introduces an AI-powered cooking assistant, “Ratatouille”.

This little AI rat will be able to come up with a bunch of personalized recipes, based on what you’ve got in your fridge.

Social Media News Digest

📢 Meta had introduced “Instagram search results” ads placement via Instagram marketing API.

👉 Meta announces new, more & better lead generation tools:

  • Promotional ads

  • Dynamic lead ad products

  • Overlay for Instant Forms

  • Free contact form

📣 Instagram Adds Broadcast Channel Guests to Provide More Content Options.

✍️ YouTube community posts for everyone. No more eligibility requirement to have 1k subs.

Now all YouTube channels would be able to write community posts.

🙋‍♀️ YouTube quiz posts are now available to iOS and desktop users.

🛍️ YouTube seems to put lots of emphasis on shopping features.

👶 Snapchat is winning over Gen Z.

Reportedly Snap is the most regularly used social media app by Gen Z.

They seem to be using Snap as an alternative to a messanger app, primarily to stay in touch with friends.

Resources for Digital Food Creators

🤑 Amazon Creator Hub. Create video reviews for your Amazon purchases and get paid (no need for any SM following at all).

🎧 The Food Blogger Pro podcast.

✍️ Social Media post templates that work and will save your precious time.

🍐 Pearpop. Transparent creator marketplace. Post authentic content on TikTok as per challenge requirements and get paid for your views.

Creator Spotlight

Eddie Shepherd

Eddie Shepherd is an award winning modern plant-based chef.

At the forefront of contemporary plant-based cuisine Eddie takes inspiration from nature to create delicious, exciting food with a modern aesthetic.

Eddie runs the unique ‘Walled Gardens’ underground restaurant in Manchester, UK, serving a modern 12 course tasting menu in an informal atmosphere.

All the food is prepared and served by the chef for just 8 diners per night, making this an intimate but relaxed, unique fine dining experience.

You can find Eddie on YouTube, showcasing advanced culinary techniques from fermentation to chocolate making and distillation.

👉 If you are a Food Content Creator or know a Creator that’s worth mentioning in the next issue of The Weekly Snack, please reply back to this email and send me the details.

This section of the newsletter is FOR YOU! I care & I share 🫶

Video of The Week

At Mugga Dosirak in South Korea, a team of three chefs and 15 staff members cook and package 10,000 lunch boxes every week by hand, and sell around 400,000 lunch boxes every year 🤯

Success Story

Meet Jessica Holmes, who runs a baking blog, Sweetest Menu.

Jessica had started her baking blog in 2014 as a side hustle, but wasn’t taking it really seriously until March 2020.

Now she’s able to work on her blog part-time (only 15 hours per week), posting on average 1 recipe per week, while staying at home with her 2 kids.

Jessica’s key to success is keyword research, good SEO and engagement with her audience. She also focuses on Pinterest as her main SM hub.

Her main source of revenue are ads. She first started with Google AdSense, but later switched to Mediavine.

Sounds feasible, or too much work? 🤔

What I’m Watching Right Now

And that’s it for this week!

Have a good one! 🫶

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