Boo appe´tit! Ghost kitchen delivers
The country’s first ‘ghost restaurant’ has popped up on Auckland’s Ponsonby Rd — but you won’t find its customers queuing for a table or sipping sparkling water inside.
Hot Lips, which specialises in Nashville-style fried chicken and cauliflower, is a new kitchen operating solely on Uber Eats.
Created by restaurateurs Conor and Tyler Kerlin, the food outlet is operating out of Ha! Poke (the former Rocket Kitchen) on Ponsonby Rd.
The pair enlisted the help of their friend Jamie Mitchell, who ran the outfit, and Mike Shand — whose secondary gig was as Jay Z and Beyonce’s tour chef.
The kitchen was predominantly used for the preparation of Hot Lips orders, while Ha! Poke bowls were whipped up in a second kitchen area.
California-born Conor Kerlin said the concept came about after the brothers noticed similar things happening in the US.
“We had been following some trends in the States with the virtual kitchens, and, owning around 40 restaurants already, we know that the cost of leases is just going up and up and up.
“Even staffing and everything — the cost of labour — it makes it really difficult to make a dollar.”
So they rolled out the idea for Hot Lips, operating from the spare space they had in the Ha! Poke kitchen and delivering the locally-sourced menu straight to Aucklanders’ couches. The kitchen was named Saylor’s Kitchen in memory of Kerlin’s daughter Saylor Rose. The 2-year-old passed away last year after being found unconscious in a family friend’s pool — a tragedy Kerlin said had delayed him in launching the new venture. However, he said it was exciting to be back doing what he loved — creating food “as good for the stomach as it is for the soul”. Cost-cutting carried through to staffing and the investment in kitchen equipment — the team of chefs whipping up Hot Lips’ speciality was the same as those creating poke bowls for customers in the shop font.
Kerlin said demand for the new offering had so far been strong. Marisa Bidois, chief executive of the Restaurant Association, said the launch was an “exciting development” and expected to see more of its kind.
Fiona Macnamara