New ghost kitchen opens in downtown Raleigh

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- A new ghost kitchen has opened in downtown Raleigh.

The Kitchen Space on South Wilmington Street has been transformed into a 20,000-square-foot commercial kitchen for entrepreneurs and small business owners.

The ghost kitchen trend took off during the pandemic. The shared working concept features no storefront with a shared commercial kitchen and baking space inside.

Business owners rent individual rooms to prep and store their food. For many chefs, bakers and caterers it's the perfect recipe to fulfill orders for food deliveries especially with apps like Uber Eats and GrubHub while keeping overhead stable.

"This past year the food costs went up crazily," explained Sandra Carrington-Smith, owner of Gaia's Kitchen and Catering.

"This was actually wonderful for us to be able to come in here and have a little bit lower rent and that kind of offset the higher food costs. It's extremely helpful because everything is included in the rent. So, you have access to equipment that would be extremely expensive to buy along with everything else, whether it's gas or electricity," Carrington-Smith added.

Ghost kitchens are catching on, since opening on January 1, 2024, The Kitchen Space has rented out 22 of its 37 individual rooms to small businesses.