COLUMBUS, Ohio — Do you know where your food comes from? When ordering food through an app, the answer is probably…or maybe not.
Some restaurants in the Columbus area are operating ghost kitchens and advertising on food delivery apps like DoorDash and Uber Eats. Ghost His Kitchen is a virtual brand that uses your existing kitchen to create food.
“This is a digital business, where food is delivered from what appears to be some restaurant,” said John Barker, president and CEO of the Ohio Restaurant and Hospitality Alliance. In fact, that's not the case.”
MrBeast Burger is a digital brand operating in kitchens across the country, including Buca di Beppo on N. Front Street in Columbus. MrBeast is transparent about its business model on its website and encourages owners to contact the company if they are interested in getting into the ghost kitchen business.
Consumer 10 spoke with Buca di Beppo's manager by phone on Friday. She confirmed that the restaurant also operates her three other ghost kitchens: Pardon My Cheesesteak, Buddy V Cakes, and TikTok Creator's Kitchen.
“During the pandemic, this situation became even more heated because we couldn’t go to restaurants for a while,” Barker said. “Even when we reopened, there were some restrictions.”
While some ghost kitchens are obvious, finding others requires consumers to look a little deeper. Consumer 10's Clay Gordon visited two area ghost kitchens to learn exactly how prevalent ghost kitchens experts believe are in Columbus. His special report will air on Thursday.
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