This quote from a recent Forbes article really scares me. “In high labor cost markets, ghost restaurants can bring down the price of handmade meals, and at the end of the day, convenience will always win. Cooking on a daily basis is a mandatory chore that many people hate. By enhancing the whole value chain of food, we can provide better choices for healthy eating every day. Eventually, ghost restaurants will start to replace home kitchens,” Martti Paatela of Epic Foods, a Nordic food delivery company and ghost restaurant, explained.
With food delivery services on the rise, many restaurants are choosing not to have brick and mortar locations or when you call for delivery, unbeknownst to you, your food is made in a completely different kitchen.
I benefit from this during lunch as I use an office delivery service at least once or twice a week for food delivery. My personal experience is that it is definitely not very economical, I pay a hefty surcharge for the convenience, and results are widely mixed.
I’m not convinced yet that it will provide “better choices for healthy eating every day”. I like to be able to plan what lunches I have delivered based on what restaurants and food choices are in the rotation. Most of them provide decent information on ingredients and nutritional stats that assist in the decision making process.
I always feel a bit guilty when I don’t have time on the weekend to do cooking and food prep for the week. I end up spending a lot more on food during those weeks and I definitely don’t eat as healthy. Maybe this newer food distribution channel will prove to be a good thing for many people. I can’t help but think it is just one more thing we are outsourcing in the name of saving time. I’ll wait and see if they start to cater to particular diet requirements and whether or not they are transparent about where ingredients are sourced from. I would certainly pay a premium for high-quality, whole, fresh ingredients but I’m more than a tad skeptical, let’s call it cautiously optimistic.
For now, I’m going to keep trying to be much more aware of where my food is coming from if I don’t grow or raise it myself. What say you?
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