[Massplanners] Ghost Kitchens

Sun Aug 15 10:00:35 EDT 2021

While it does appear to be related to a fast food restaurant, the bringing of multiple restaurant menus under one roof has a variety of issues. Traffic and parking are obvious, some areas have had issues with them taking over a Main Street storefront, parking for a normal sit-down restaurant may have been adequate with on-street, but the stacked gig workers are double and triple parking. So, an off-street parking area seems to be a must. If it is just Wendy's (who announced they are looking at opening up 700 ghost kitchens) it might have similar traffic patterns to a single restaurant. But, when it is Wendy's, Panera, Cinnabon, and 3 or 4 others, it would seem to multiply the traffic and parking.

As we are on septic, and the standards for restaurants are on seating, waste water capacity could be an issue. Again, one restaurant could be considered similar to a McDonalds perhaps, but, when you bring multiple together, does the waste water go up significantly. Considering McDonalds is all paper, it would seem comparable for water. A 99, with sit-down and dishes probably has a higher load, and the change might not be significant, but, we have nothing to go by yet.

Daniel J. Fortier, AICP
Town Planner
Town of Dennis
P.O. Box 2060
South Dennis MA 02660

email:dfortier at town.dennis.ma.us
phone:  508-760-6119
fax: 508-394-8309

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From: MassPlanners <massplanners-bounces at masscptc.org> on behalf of Harry LaCortiglia <hlacortiglia at comcast.net>
Sent: Saturday, August 14, 2021 9:15 AM
To: massplanners at masscptc.org
Subject: Re: [Massplanners] Ghost Kitchens

Hi Dan,

It sounds a little bit paranormal to me.... Mostly though it sounds like a take-out restaurant with delivery. (Might want to consider calling it just that.)

Plan for parking. Kitchens in any cosmic realm need staff. (Unless they've figured out a way to cook remotely...)

In house delivery will need parking for delivery vehicle(s)

Independent drivers delivering meals will queue up in front of the establishment and nearby.

Who knows...next summer customers might even want to pick up their own meals rather than wait for delivery.

Are you considering this as a Home Occupation?

H. LaCortiglia
Georgetown

On 8/13/2021 12:31 PM, Dan Fortier wrote:
Good Afternoon

A change in direction, has anyone tackled the issue of “ghost” kitchens yet?  I have started the discussion out of concern that, as restaurants continue to struggle, we might see a shift to delivery only.  Right now it would not be a clean fit for this as a sit-down restaurant or fast food restaurant under our zoning.  It leans towards fast food.

I have a tentative definition:

Ghost Kitchen (also cloud kitchen, virtual kitchen) common cooking spaces for prepared meals with no dine-in option, where food is made to order and delivery to customers for consumption off-premises.

But am trying to wrestle with parking requirements. Our Board of Health is also concerned with how to determine waste water generation for septic design.  Has anyone dealt with these issues yet?

Obviously, changing the use of a restaurant will have parking and some septic capacity, but, are these generating more meals meaning greater waste water? Or, given there are no dishes, less waste water?  I have read about downtown issues with double and triple parked cars on street, not sure this is an issue with a former restaurant unless it is a downtown site, but, looking for thoughts.

Daniel J. Fortier, AICP
Town Planner
Town of Dennis
P.O. Box 2060
South Dennis MA 02660

email:dfortier at town.dennis.ma.us<mailto:email:dfortier at town.dennis.ma.us>
phone: 508-760-6119
fax: 508-394-8309

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http://dennismaplanningdept.wordpress.com/
http://dennismalocalcomprehensiveplan.wordpress.com/
http://dennismaeconomicdevelopment.wordpress.com/
http://dennismaopenspaceandrecreationplan.wordpress.com/

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