Flavor District: Triangle's largest 'ghost kitchen' set to open in Raleigh this fall

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- The concept of "ghost kitchens" isn't new. Ghost kitchens are a space where chefs, bakers, entrepreneurs, or big-chain restaurants can cook up restaurant-style food and deliver it directly to customers' homes or dine-in restaurants.

In the Triangle, the Kitchen Archive Raleigh or the Kitchen Archive Durham are examples of ghost kitchens. Chef Allison Vick, owner of Little Blue Macaron has been working out of the Raleigh location for three years.

"This place gives an opportunity for businesses that are smaller and trying to break into the food industry here in Raleigh," Vick said. "It gives them a steppingstone while they figure out OK, am I going to go to a brick-and-mortar, is a food truck the right operation for me."

Ghost kitchens have been a lifeline for the restaurant industry. They were hit hard in the pandemic with closures, staffing shortages, high food costs, and high rent. The industry of ghost kitchens is projected to grow from 43 billion in 2019 to more than 71 billion in 2027 according to Hospitality Technology.

In Wake County, Flavor District, the largest ghost kitchen concept is in the works and will occupy a former Golden Corral on Capital Boulevard.

"The restaurants that prepare food out of this facility are going to be able to meet the consumer's needs, but they're also going to be able to lower their overhead costs in operating out a facility like this," said David Foye of The Foye Group developing Flavor District. "One of the things that we're doing ... unique here is that we're giving our restaurants the opportunity to prepare food for delivery and takeout out of the facility."

Foye says Flavor District will have 15 separate restaurant kitchen spaces, which will allow customers the option of picking up their orders in one space or choosing delivery of multiple restaurants with only one delivery fee.

Flavor District is slated to open in the fall of 2022.