Despite their benefits, though, ghost kitchens and virtual restaurants find themselves increasingly in the cross hairs of some food-safety activists and regulators. A piece this week in the Boston Globe—complete with scary headline—highlights some of the concerns public-health regulators in the Bay State have with them.
One criticism the piece lobs is the claim that customers are less able to access restaurant letter grades or other health department assessments "as readily as they could at traditional restaurants, which may be required to display proof of inspection in their storefronts or dining areas."
That's true! But customers who order food by phone or online for delivery from any traditional restaurant—or who live in a city or state that doesn't require the physical posting of such information—won't ever see that same score posted, either. And, to be clear, restaurant inspection grades are an uncertain tool for determining how safe a restaurant's food is to eat. For example, as I noted in a 2019 column, a great investigation by the food website Eater into New York City's restaurant inspection regime concluded the city's "broken" inspection system was forcing city restaurants that weren't engaging in practices that would sicken customers nevertheless "to game the system in order to pass muster with the city's notoriously overzealous health department."
Other health inspector concerns expressed in the WSOC and Globe articles seem to have little to do with food safety. For example, the WSOC article notes that Adam Dietrich, a food-safety consultant quoted in the report, expressed concerns "about whether a restaurant can safely offer various menus."
That argument implies restaurants can't safely serve food from more than one menu. Yet most restaurants have several menus (breakfast, lunch, brunch, dinner, happy hour, children's, Valentine's, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.), and sometimes even serve items from each menu at the same time (e.g., breakfast all day)!
reason.com
One criticism the piece lobs is the claim that customers are less able to access restaurant letter grades or other health department assessments "as readily as they could at traditional restaurants, which may be required to display proof of inspection in their storefronts or dining areas."
That's true! But customers who order food by phone or online for delivery from any traditional restaurant—or who live in a city or state that doesn't require the physical posting of such information—won't ever see that same score posted, either. And, to be clear, restaurant inspection grades are an uncertain tool for determining how safe a restaurant's food is to eat. For example, as I noted in a 2019 column, a great investigation by the food website Eater into New York City's restaurant inspection regime concluded the city's "broken" inspection system was forcing city restaurants that weren't engaging in practices that would sicken customers nevertheless "to game the system in order to pass muster with the city's notoriously overzealous health department."
Other health inspector concerns expressed in the WSOC and Globe articles seem to have little to do with food safety. For example, the WSOC article notes that Adam Dietrich, a food-safety consultant quoted in the report, expressed concerns "about whether a restaurant can safely offer various menus."
That argument implies restaurants can't safely serve food from more than one menu. Yet most restaurants have several menus (breakfast, lunch, brunch, dinner, happy hour, children's, Valentine's, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.), and sometimes even serve items from each menu at the same time (e.g., breakfast all day)!
'Ghost Kitchens' Spur Overheated Health Concerns From Regulators
Ordering food from restaurants is an ageless practice. But the explosion of so-called ghost kitchens and similar non-restaurant restaurants has been one
reason.com
