Ghost kitchens might now be largely considered a restaurant trend of the pandemic years, but for one Rockland County, N.Y., restaurant, going ghost at first was a crucial step to success.
Pita Greek, which just opened this winter in Nanuet, N.Y., started off as a ghost kitchen and a way to boost sales for its sister concept, AquaTerra Grille in Pearl River, N.Y., during the lean years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“During COVID, we still wanted to give the market our delicious Greek food,” Nicholas Lambos, co-owner of Pita Greek and general manager of AquaTerra, said. “So, we started off as a ghost kitchen promoting online ordering and takeout during the big delivery push. It was the right place and the right time, but it also caught on in the area and it became a staple for takeout Greek.”
When it started in 2020, Pita Greek was a pita sandwiches, bowls, and salads concept operating from an online ordering tablet at the back of the house at AquaTerra. Eventually, Lambos said, he and his team expanded Pita Greek to third-party delivery, and eventually they were taking Pita Greek orders through phone calls at Aqua Terra.
By operating Pita Greek out of AquaTerra, the company was able to create additional revenue streams without adding too much cost, because Pita Greek and AquaTerra’s ingredient inventories are similar.
“Part of the reason why we did well as a ghost kitchen is because we didn’t take any shortcuts, and we took it very seriously,” Lambos said. “I follow a lot of other ghost kitchens and noticed that some will do a completely random concept out of [the host restaurant]. If you aren’t using the same ingredients, then you risk a lot of waste and keeping up with quality is much more difficult.”
At some point, however, Lambos and his team realized the Pita Greek brand had gotten too big to just operate out the back of a different restaurant, and they began to look for nearby brick-and-mortar locations to open the concept on its own.
A couple of weeks after opening as a fast-casual Greek restaurant at the end of January in Nanuet (the town near the original ghost kitchen location), Pita Greek is already a hit in its new form.
“Being a ghost kitchen was pivotal to our success,” Lambos said. “I really believe that taking those steps helped us perfect the concept so that when we found a brick and mortar, we had a pretty good idea of menu and operations.”
Moving forward, Lambos said that while his team is focused on getting Pita Greek up and running, he would like to scale the concept and make it “the best fast-casual Greek in the area.”
“The whole ghost kitchen thing might be falling out [of fashion], but if I could do it all over again, I would,” he said. “The costs are minimal compared to brick-and-mortar, and if your concept works well and the staff are on board, then why not? What do you have to lose?”
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