DoorDash Kitchens opens delivery-centric food hall concept in Brooklyn

Joanna Fantozzi

DoorDash announced Monday the launch of a delivery-focused food hall-like concept in Brooklyn. DoorDash Kitchens Brooklyn will be the first DoorDash Kitchens location to offer permanent, indoor seating within the ghost kitchen network that launched two years ago. The commissary kitchen will eventually offer five different national and local restaurant brands as part of a delivery-forward food hall concept with limited seating for 20 people.

Starting today, New York City sushi brand DomoDomo, Brooklyn-based fried chicken and pies brand, Pies ‘n’ Thighs, and Williamsburg-based dim sum restaurant, Kings So Imperial, will be available at the DoorDash Kitchens spot located at the shared-use commercial kitchen, Nimbus in Downtown Brooklyn. Soon, DoorDash will add San Francisco Korean bowls concept Moonbowls to the roster, as well as Little Caesars. Customers will also be able to purchase coffee from New York City roaster, Birch Coffee; pastries from virtual bakery, Kado Patisri, and iconic crack pies and cereal milk ice cream from Milk Bar.

“New York City and Brooklyn are two distinct locations, where there isn’t always consumer overlap,” Ruth Isenstadt, Senior Director of DoorDash Kitchens told Nation’s Restaurant News. “We heard from our restaurant partners that being able to serve Brooklyn — some for the first time like DomoDomo — is a helpful way to reach more customers and test a new location without committing to a brick and mortar. We are committed to providing consumers with the best of their neighborhood, which include a mixture of national and local favorites.”

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DoorDash Kitchens launched in early 2020 as a ghost kitchen network experiment in the San Francisco Bay Area and two years later, now has two locations in the San Jose area and North Hollywood, California. With the opening of each new location, DoorDash has offered a delivery-only commissary kitchen with a mix of chain and independent eateries that acts as a vehicle for restaurants to expand their off-premises each without having to open a full location. In the Redwood City location, guests have already been able to dine outdoors during the warmer months of the year, but DoorDash Kitchens Brooklyn will be the first location to offer permanent indoor seating.

While the concept might sound like a reverse virtual food hall,Isenstadt said the difference between a DoorDash Kitchens location and a food hall is the ease of delivery operations:

“DoorDash Kitchens Brooklyn is optimized for delivery, whereas many food halls are focused on their on-premises offerings,” she said. “All of the restaurants within DoorDash Kitchens feed into a unified dispatch area, where DoorDash supports the handoff of orders to Dashers and customers. To provide a seamless experience, Dashers pick up orders at a distinct window outside of the building.”

Related:Grubhub is opening a virtual restaurant with MasterChef

DoorDash is not the only delivery platform dipping its toes into operations: Grubhub announced this week the launch of an original virtual restaurant concept, MastersChef Table.

DoorDash Kitchens Brooklyn will be available for pickup or delivery to customers in Dumbo, Park Slope, Cobble Hill, Fort Greene, Brooklyn Heights, Gowanus, Clinton Hill, and Prospect Heights and will be available for dine-in from 7 am-10 pm, with late night takeout options available from 10:00-11:00 pm.

“Our Williamsburg location is just a few miles away from the new DoorDash Kitchens location, yet this new location will make our food even more accessible to our customers,” Josh Grinker, chef and co-owner of Kings Co Imperial said in a statement. “We’re excited about partnering with DoorDash Kitchens Brooklyn, as this is a natural extension of our existing partnership and helps us get our food to our loyal customers faster, hotter, and better.”

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