Sydney’s first dark kitchen for food delivery services could soon open in Artamon following plans to build the facility for 28 different food outlets.
Chef Collective is behind the plan to build the dark kitchen on Whiting Street, after establishing the same concept in Brisbane and Melbourne. Also known as smart kitchens, cloud kitchens, or virtual kitchens, the company has filed a development application (DA-2021/206) with Willoughby City Council in July 2021.
With a budget of $2.5 million, Chef Collective wants to turn a warehouse in Artarmon into a kitchen-only food facility without dining-in services. If approved, the site will allow for over 51 chefs to share the space and prepare their restaurant’s menu for meals ordered via delivery apps like Uber Eats, Deliveroo, and Menulog.
Highlights
- Chef Collective has lodged a development application to build a dark kitchen in Whiting Street, Artarmon.
- If approved, it will be Sydney’s first dark kitchen, servicing online delivery orders from 28 different restaurants on Uber Eats, Deliveroo, and Menulog.
- The application is currently under a public notification until 23 Aug 2021.
The facility is expected to open seven days a week, between 6:00 a.m. to 12 midnight, servicing around 56 online orders per hour, which will be collected by bikers, scooters, or cars. The proposal has also included loading docks and 16 parking bays for the supplies and delivery vehicles, as well as a shower and changing rooms for the staff.
The dark kitchen could cover orders from customers living within Artarmon’s four-kilometre radius, including Neutral Bay, North Sydney, and Chatswood.
“Our goal at Chef Collective is to redesign the old restaurant model. We help businesses by providing the infrastructure and strategic services required to grow and succeed in today’s competitive F&B world,” the group stated on its official site.
The company said that the initiative is a response to the COVID-19 lockdowns that have significantly affected the hospitality industry.
“The only way for many restaurant businesses to pull through was to adapt to the new and increasingly popular delivery model.”
Restaurant owners in the area said that a dark kitchen will not impact their businesses as some customers still want the authentic experience and interaction of dining in. A shared kitchen concept also makes use of the same grill, oven, or refrigerators with different cuisines, which might impact the flavour.
Willoughby Council is still assessing the application, which is in the public notification process until 23 Aug 2021. To comment on the DA, locals may search DA-2021/206 on the Council’s ePlanning Portal.