CHARLOTTE, N.C. — New Charlotte restauranteurs are getting a boost to their businesses thanks to a new approach to the shared kitchen concept.
City Kitch offers chefs space to work out of, and they just added a front lobby that’s driving up sales big time. Now, diners can come inside the Wesley Heights location, place an order on monitors, and eat in that space. All of that translates to bigger business for the restauranteurs.
“We took a gamble and thought we’d be able to build our business and expand in the future,” Tim Barnes said.
He is the owner of Queen City Cheesesteaks. The family run company just celebrated a year in business, cooking out of one of the kitchens at City Kitch, a so-called ghost kitchen.
“We lower the cost of capital required to work on a food business by providing access to our shared kitchen,” Liz Ren, who runs City Kitch, explained.
Barnes said he's noticed a difference.
“When you’re renting space instead of having a walk-in cooler, you have to get smaller quantities, and to get those at a discount through partnerships through City Kitch, it helps us keep the cost low and manage food costs specifically," Barnes said.
There are 20 food operations currently working out of the Wesley Heights kitchen. City Kitch has two other locations in North Carolina and they’ve just started something new in hopes of helping their tenants find even more success.
“When you think about a ghost kitchen, you think about anonymity -- we don’t want that," Ren said. "We want to bring our chefs, local businesses as close to the folks that want to support them as possible.”
The Wesley Heights kitchen now has a bigger, decorated front lobby so customers can dine in. Additionally, there are now kiosks where diners can place in-person orders rather than just online orders.
Already, the chefs say they’re reaping the benefits, with business up a whopping 50% to 60%.
“That’s helped tremendously, we’ve seen a big lift,” Barnes said.
He said there’s been another unexpected bonus from working side by side with like-minded chefs.
“It was a critical part of our success, and a lot of the relationships we built over time with other chefs have helped us figure out some of the things you don’t know when you start a business," Barnes said. "Being in a community where there are other concepts, you start to learn how to hone your skills."
For Barnes, that's as a businessman and a chef.
Contact Michelle Boudin at mboudin@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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