‘Ghost kitchens’ helping Chinese food emporium in San Francisco reach customers – and survive the pandemic
- China Live in San Francisco’s Chinatown is using kitchens specially set up for delivery services to get its takeaway food favourites to more customers
- The venture is a partnership with Virtual Kitchen, a ‘ghost kitchen’ start-up offering space and equipment to support restaurants’ delivery operations
After the Covid-19 pandemic forced the closure of his food emporium to in-house diners, chef George Chen deployed the resources of the 30,000-square-foot (2,790-square-metre) site in San Francisco towards delivery services with the help of what have become known as “ghost kitchens”.
Like most eateries in the city, Chen’s China Live emporium – consisting of the Market Restaurant, a full-service establishment with an ever-changing seasonal menu; the fine-dining Eight Tables by George Chen; the Oolong Cafe; a bar; and a retail area selling kitchenware, pantry items, tea and fresh produce – saw a dramatic fall in revenue when the pandemic imposed shelter-in-place restrictions on San Franciscans and a ban on indoor dining.
China Live Signatures is a new venture that uses kitchens across the San Francisco Bay Area to expand the food hall’s reach, offering a selection of the food emporium’s takeaway customer favourites.
Rather than being cooked entirely in China Live’s own Chinatown kitchen – which is still providing takeaway and delivery services – the food is partially prepared in San Francisco and then transported to these ghost kitchens, where the dishes are finished before being delivered to customers’ homes by drivers working for delivery apps such as Caviar, GrubHub, DoorDash and UberEats.
Lovers of China Live fare in Berkeley, Sunnyvale, Willow Glen, Daly City, Belmont and Palo Alto can enjoy its Dongbei-style potstickers and “Dutch Crunch” char siu BBQ pork buns without walking out their front doors.