# The Growth of Ghost Kitchens in the Restaurant Industry Published 2023-01-10 · Updated 2026-06-08 · Food & Beverage on MarketScale Canonical: https://www.marketscale.com/industries/food-beverage/the-growth-of-ghost-kitchens-in-the-restaurant-industry Creator hub: The Main Course > Necessity-meeting technology played a vital role in the rapid acceleration of ghost kitchens during the COVID-19 pandemic. The global market size of ghost kitchens grew to 56.71 Billion dollars in 2021, and the industry forecasts a 112.53 billion ghost kitchen market by 2027. While one can typically find ghost kitchens in dense urban areas, there… Block Field Necessity-meeting technology played a vital role in the rapid acceleration of ghost kitchens during the COVID-19 pandemic. The [global market size](https://www.statista.com/statistics/1078732/cloud-kitchen-market-size-us/) of ghost kitchens grew to 56.71 Billion dollars in 2021, and the industry forecasts a 112.53 billion ghost kitchen market by 2027. While one can typically find ghost kitchens [in dense urban areas](https://qz.com/2032957/ghost-kitchens-are-becoming-a-very-real-business), there are over an estimated 1,500 ghost kitchens in the U.S.[ Barbara Castiglia](https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbara-jarvie-castiglia-072ba02/) of [Modern Restaurant](https://modernrestaurantmanagement.com/) Management, host of [The Main Course](https://marketscale.com/shows/the-main-course/) podcast, wanted an insider’s perspective on the ghost kitchen phenomenon. She found that insider in [Mott Smith](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mott-smith-337307/). Smith is the CEO & Co-Owner at [Amped Kitchens](https://www.ampedkitchens.com/), which rents monthly permit-ready, private commercial kitchen spaces with a community of dynamic food makers. Today, Amped Kitchens operates three buildings in Los Angeles and Chicago, but they are focused on growth with more areas to come. “Each of these buildings ranges from fifty to over a hundred thousand square feet with fifty to sixty kitchens inside,” Smith said. “We solve a problem that has tormented the restaurant and food industry for many years. There hasn’t been a great solution for companies that are growing out of either their first facilities, whether that’s a home kitchen, a shared kitchen, a single location, or brick & mortar restaurant. They’re not ready to invest in multi-million-dollar facilities.” ### Castiglia and Smith’s conversation about ghost kitchens includes… ● Smith’s background and how he came to co-found Amped ● The process for restaurants interested in exploring the possibilities of working with ghost kitchens ● How ghost kitchens create efficiencies that return more bottom-line dollars to restaurants for future investing ● Ghost kitchen success stories from some of Amped Kitchen’s restaurant and food clients “One of my favorite stories is about a company called 4th & Heart Ghee,” Smith said. “This is a company that makes Ghee, clarified Indian butter. This company was founded by two young entrepreneurs who came out of professional jobs. They had beautiful branding; they were at farmer’s markets; they came to us and operated out of one of our smallest kitchens. After six months of operating with us, they got a massive order from an online retailer for ten thousand units. They came to us with this life-changing order that they wanted to say yes to and wanted to move to a larger kitchen. We were, over a weekend, able to move them to a larger space.” Mott Smith has an extensive background in real estate development and wholesale commercial kitchens. Smith holds a B.A. in Linguistics from UCLA and a master’s in real estate development from USC. He is a founding member of the California Infill Builders Federations and an Adjunct Professor for Urban Infill Real Estate Development at USC Price School of Public Policy. --- Source: MarketScale, https://www.marketscale.com/industries/food-beverage/the-growth-of-ghost-kitchens-in-the-restaurant-industry. Published for AI indexing and citation; cite the canonical URL. Site guide for agents: https://www.marketscale.com/llms.txt