Inspire Brands debuts ghost kitchen as chains lean into virtual

As labor challenges continue across the fast-food space and customers seek seamless interactions with digital ordering, major restaurant players are leaning into the ghost and virtual kitchen space to optimize efficiencies and speed up service.

Inspire Brands announced Tuesday the launch of a multibrand ghost kitchen in Atlanta that will serve customers from its portfolio of fast-food companies including Arby’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, Jimmy John’s, Sonic Drive-In and Rusty Taco.

The concept, dubbed Alliance Kitchen, will allow customers to order from both third-party aggregator platforms and the brands’ apps. Its debut comes as Inspire’s digital sales have more than doubled since 2019 to just over $6 billion, said Stephanie Sentell, senior vice president of restaurant operations and innovation at Inspire, in an interview.

Inspire, which is privately held, did not disclose the size of its investment.

Alliance Kitchen is already operating, having opened its doors in a quiet rollout in July. The company said it is its first restaurant owned and developed ghost kitchen, and it allows Inspire to test ideas from its Innovation Center — like its Flippy Robot, which can be used to cook wings — in a real restaurant environment. The concept eventually could allow Inspire to introduce brands into new geographic areas, Sentell said.

It is already helping Inspire discover new ways to work more efficiently.

“We have a lot of experience and resources within Inspire and took a look at how we could operate this facility by driving more labor efficiencies — unlocking a lot of innovation throughout that process,” Sentell said. “We’ve set up a model where the entire kitchen is conjoined — we have essentially a shared workflow work process, which is driving a lot of that labor efficiency.”

Alliance Kitchen uses segmented workstations that allow it to fill orders for multiple brands. Inspire said this results in both labor efficiency and the ability for workers to train across the kitchen. The design reduces labor needs by 54%, square footage needs by 19%, decreases equipment costs by 45%, and reduces energy consumption by more than 50% compared with five stand-alone restaurants, according to Inspire.

“Through that test-and-learn environment, we’re already seeing very positive progress in that area that’s leading us to be able to deploy some of that technology and innovation into our Sonic restaurant drive-thrus, as well as Jimmy John’s,” said Vans Nelson,…