Pepsi Offers Ghost Kitchen Capabilities for Foodservice Partners

In an effort to unlock further growth opportunities for its foodservice partners, PepsiCo’s Foodservice Digital Lab announced today it will begin offering existing and future customers the ability to “seamlessly enter” the “ghost kitchen” space while leveraging the company’s resources and portfolio of brands.

Also referred to as “dark kitchens,” “cloud kitchens” or “virtual restaurants,” ghost kitchens are restaurants that sell food and beverages exclusively through delivery. According to a market survey published by Hospitality Tech, the global cloud kitchen market size is projected to reach $71.4 billion by 2027.

PepsiCo’s new ghost kitchen capabilities are designed to satisfy the growing off-premise needs of restaurant operators by helping them capture “the 54% of adults who view food takeout or delivery as essential to the way they live,” according to a press release.

“Ghost kitchens offer foodservice operators an efficient, proven, and cost-effective way to improve kitchen profitability and overall supply-chain utilization without the burden of an additional overhead and front house operations typically associated with launching a new restaurant,” said André Moraes, senior director of marketing for PepsiCo Foodservice, in the release

Launched in 2019, PepsiCo’s Digital Lab was created to match food service operators with the companies, services, insights and solutions suited for their specific digital and online needs across four areas: insights, playbooks, activation and innovation. With a wide array of services such as managing online reviews and implementing point-of-sale tools, the digital lab claims to “help operators maximize the most critical aspects of their digital footprint.”

While carrying out its new ghost kitchen capabilities, PepsiCo says it will employ lessons it learned from its “Pep’s Place” virtual brand experience.

Launched last year under PepsiCo’s “Better with Pepsi” campaign, Pep’s Place served as a “fast beverage” ghost kitchen that paired various Pepsi flavors with a menu of burgers, buffalo wings, sandwiches and salads. During its 30-day run in partnership with Famous Dave’s, Pep’s Place welcomed more than three million customers through its virtual doors, according to the brand.

Under its new “umbrella” ghost kitchen offering, PepsiCo now plans to introduce additional ghost kitchen menus centered around some of its most popular food and beverage brands, such as Pepsi, MTN DEW, Doritos and Cheetos.

“The PepsiCo Foodservice Digital Lab’s new ghost kitchen offering is designed to create a turnkey, scalable solution for customers looking to bring their flavors to new or existing markets, grow their off-premise footprint, and drive revenue,” said Moraes in the release. “PepsiCo makes the process seamless for customers by packaging up best-in-class digital marketing concepts while also providing expertise on culinary creations, menu optimization, launch strategies and more.”

The launch of the ghost kitchen offering comes amid a strong financial year for PepsiCo; last month, the company raised its full-year organic revenue to +12% in its Q3 earnings report, citing a strong quarterly performance reinforced by North American market share increases in snacks and performance drinks.