LOS ANGELES, CA – As more and more consumers become accustomed to food delivery, delivery companies are looking for ways to cut costs, increase profits, and expand offerings to gain an edge on the competition. One such company is DoorDash. The popular delivery app is now offering its customers cuisine from delivery-only “virtual” restaurants—commissaries where chefs can skip the service and offer dishes directly through DoorDash.

A Reuter’s report describes the new pilot DoorDash Kitchens —in which restauranteurs lease kitchen space directly from the delivery service—as a way to “cut costs on labor and rent while adapting to fast-changing consumer tastes and demands in a highly-competitive market.”

The virtual restaurant model is not new, though DoorDash is one of the more prominent adopters of the model. Culinary news source Eater notes that U.K.-based Deliveroo has been employing virtual restaurants for some time now, as have U.S.-based startups Munchery and Momofuku Owner David Chang’s recently-launched delivery-only restaurant Ando.

And DoorDash competitor GrubHub, who Reuters described as the “delivery leader,” has reportedly invested in Green Summit Group—a privately held company that operates virtual restaurants in New York and Chicago, but the company’s COO Stan Chia told Reuters that Grub Hub doesn’t plan on adopting the model anytime soon.

Will virtual restaurants raise the profile of door-to-door delivery, and how will this effect the future of fresh? AndNowUKnow will continue to report.

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