WHO YOU GONNA CALL? Ghost restaurants are answering the call that delivery apps have created; from virtual second outposts to condo-based dumpling factories. WORDS BY TAYLOR NEWLANDS PHOTOGRAPHY BY SANDRO PEHAR
I
T’S FRIDAY NIGHT. After a harrowing week of putting in overtime at the office, trying to keep a regular workout schedule and attempting to eat relatively healthy home-cooked meals, exhaustion and hunger have taken over. So I do what any other person in 2020 would do – I take out my phone, open up my favourite food-delivery app and start scrolling. The options seem endless – Italian, burgers, Thai, pho, ramen. On top of all that, apps like Foodora are branching out to deliver groceries, pet food, flowers and even alcohol straight to your door. We’ve quickly become acclimatized to using our phones to order food and track it every step of the way from preparation, to pick up, to which route the bicycle courier is taking to avoid the steep hill that I live on. But it wasn’t too long ago that it felt like the only option for straight-to-your-door dining was a charred cardboard-flavoured pizza. Uber Eats came into existence a mere
58
five years ago, and has already crept its way into our everyday lexicon, becoming a noun, a verb and a way of life. And as the demand for takeout and delivery increases, restaurants are drawn to the apps that make the process smoother and more convenient – which in turn lures in more customers, eager to avoid the crowds and enjoy their favourite meals from the comfort of their own home. At Pai Northern Thai Kitchen, husbandand-wife duo chef Nuit and Jeff Regular have had to make drastic changes to accommodate the growing demand. Walk past Pai any night of the week and you’ll find customers lined up out the door, with a steady stream of delivery drivers and takeout customers pushing their way in and out. “As the demand goes up, we don’t want to be the place that says ‘okay, we’re done, we can’t do any more.’ So we’re always trying to find a way to meet the demand and make sure that the efficiency is where it needs to be,” says Jeff Regular. →
