Nathan’s Famous has been pushing hard into the ghost kitchen trend and announced recently that it now has 223 ghost kitchens in 18 countries. A large number of the locations serve its virtual brand Wings of New York.
The company has doubled the number of ghost kitchens over the last year.
“We are proud to announce that we have doubled our ghost kitchens across the globe,” said James Walker, senior vice president, restaurants. “We could not have done this without collaboration with outside brands who have helped to bring the Flavor of New York to more guests through Nathan’s Famous, Wings of New York and Arthur Treacher’s. While they are different in their offerings and menus, they share the focus on ensuring all menu items are ‘Memorable, Craveable and Instagrammable.’ Our goal with these ghost kitchens is not just to grow our brand around the world, but also help other restaurants by providing them additional business during these turbulent times for the industry.”
Nathan’s Famous began incorporating ghost kitchens in its business model in 2019, working with ghost kitchen company Franklin Junction. The following year, the brand teamed with mobile kitchen company REEF Kitchens, which brought the brand to new markets in the Midwest, as well as Kitopi, to help the brand’s growth in the UAE.
In 2020, Nathan’s Famous introduced its new brand Wings of New York, a delivery-only concept offering New York-style wings as well as Harlem-style chicken and waffles. Earlier this year, Nathan’s Famous also reintroduced Arthur Treacher’s, which features hand-dipped fish, chicken and shrimp.
According to Euromarket ghost kitchens are expected to be $1 trillion by 2030. That has led many operators to move into the space and a huge amount of venture capital money has been pushed into ghost kitchens. Large brands like Applebee’s, Chick-fil-A and others have used ghost kitchens to move into new markets with limited upfront costs.
