Deliveroo’s first 'dark kitchen' in Sydney set to open in Veriu Hotel in Ultimo

Dark kitchens are a group of kitchens built specifically for online food delivery services, with different vendors assigned to their own work station, where they prepare dishes from their regular menus but for online orders. The orders are then delivered by couriers on bicycle, motorcycle or motor scooter.

The Ultimo dark kitchen will be run out of the ground floor of the Veriu Broadway hotel. Photo: Supplied

Deliveroo already has a dark kitchen in Melbourne’s Windsor, which opened in November 2017.

The kitchens are not open to the public for dining but the Ultimo premises will have a click-and-collect area at Smail Street, open to customers before 10pm. This is a first for Deliveroo Australia, which has not accommodated for customers wanting to pick up their own orders.

Because it is located underneath five levels of accommodation with no onsite restaurant, it will likely see hotel guests becoming regular customers.

Veriu Broadway hotel manager Rory Douglas has seen first hand how popular food delivery services are with guests.

“It’s almost every second delivery arrival through the door now is Deliveroo sending up to the room, it’s certainly a trend we’ve seen coming and has really built up in the last while,” he told Commercial Real Estate.

“We think it’s fantastic for the hotel, it’s not often you’ll have that many varieties of great restaurants from all across the city on your doorstep, so we really do see it being a great value-add.”

Mr Douglas said that the main goal would be to arrange for the orders to be delivered to the hotel rooms directly.

“We’ll be chatting with Deliveroo quite regularly on how we can launch them straight up to the rooms, having your gourmet room service sorted out for you,” he said.

“People are going to be ordering via these platforms so we have to make it easier and perhaps assist them with that, that’s absolutely the way we’ll be going.”

The proposed 520-square-metre dark kitchen will have nine kitchen “pods”, a food dispatch room, a customer collection area and basement parking for delivery bicycles.

Ultimo is set to see more of these riders weaving through the streets. Photo: Jason South

A Deliveroo spokesperson said the company had plans to open more dark kitchens in Australia “in the coming months”, but could not comment on specific locations of these ‘Editions sites’.

“Editions sites host ‘super kitchens’, specially designed only for the cooking and delivery of specific cuisines,” he said.

“By being in Deliveroo’s delivery-only super kitchens, restaurants are able to expand without needing a physical presence in the area, enabling restaurants to reach new customers.”

Deliveroo chooses restaurants to be in its dark kitchen based on the gap in the local area’s food market, or the cuisines that diners want but cannot access in surrounding suburbs, according to the Deliveroo website.

Restaurants using the kitchens can set up in eight to 12 weeks without paying upfront costs, but Deliveroo will charge a higher commission rate on orders. According to restaurants, the platform typically takes a 30 to 35 per cent cut.

The company also wants to sell alcohol with meals and will apply for a packaged liquor licence separately.

The Ultimo dark kitchen will create about 50 jobs, as well as “increased opportunities for Deliveroo riders”, the company’s application documents say.

Deliveroo and other food delivery companies have faced criticism for their treatment of couriers as independent contractors – as opposed to employees – who are not entitled to minimum wages and protection from unfair dismissal.