Chef Collective plans first Sydney ‘dark kitchen’ in Artarmon for online delivery orders

More food delivery drivers could soon be seen on Sydney’s streets under a $2.5 million plan for a “dark kitchen” which would cook meals purely for apps such as Uber Eats and Deliveroo.

Competition in Sydney’s booming online food delivery market is heating up with a north shore warehouse set to become a ‘dark kitchen’ where meals would be cooked exclusively for online orders.

A $2.5 million development plan has been released for an operation involving 28 separate kitchens inside an Artarmon warehouse, where up to 51 on-site chefs would prepare meals to be dispatched via apps such as Deliveroo, Menulog and Uber Eats.

There would be no tables or chairs for customers with plans by global operator Chef Collective showing dining-in would be officially off the menu.

A concept plan of the dark kitchen

There would, however, be on-site delivery areas for bike couriers, mopeds and cars to pick up and distribute meals across a 4km radius – taking in suburbs as far as Chatswood, North Sydney and Neutral Bay – between 6am to midnight, seven days per week.

Chef Collective predicts the kitchen would serve up to 56 orders per hour to be dispatched by 40 delivery drivers on weekdays – rising up to 62 orders and 43 drivers per hour on weekends.

Chefs would have to be masters of all trades – cooking up everything from fish and chips to tacos, pad thai to pizza, and kebabs to banh mi.

Food would be dispatched to a 4km radius.

Dark kitchens are also known as virtual kitchens, smart kitchens, cloud kitchens, and ghost kitchens and the concept is spruiked as offering benefits such as a reduction in the costs and risks associated with running a walk-in venue.

Chef Collective said the proposal had been partly prompted by soaring demand for online food orders during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It would cater to an emerging market trend for home delivery food which has intensified during the pandemic,” the company said.

“The development can provide post-lockdown and post-pandemic job opportunities for workers in the community who may have been significantly affected.”

Up to 43 delivery crew would access the site per hour.

Some nearby businesses have expressed mixed thoughts at the proposal including Simon Downes, owner of Chooks in Artarmon, who said the advent of food delivery apps had not stopped the number of customers walking through his restaurant doors.

“Dark kitchens often have the same grills, the same fridges for Indian food, Chinese, Italian and so on – you’re not getting an authentic experience – if I want Thai I go to a Thai restaurant, if I want a schnitty and chips I go to a pub,” he said.

“People like interaction – we’ve been here for a few years and customers like to come into the store and have a chat – you’re never going to change that.”

Plans for the Artarmon site show the set-up would include loading docks, showers and changing rooms for staff along with 16 parking bays for bikes and five for cars.

If approved, it is expected 75 per cent of orders would be delivered via scooters, mopeds and bikes and the remaining 25 per cent by car.

The set-up would be Chef Collective’s third facility in Australia after launching in Brisbane in 2020 and Melbourne earlier this year.

The company also operates internationally in markets including Los Angeles.

The plans are under assessment by Willoughby Council.