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The Great Wings Rush
By Josh Dzieza | June 1, 2021, 10:00am EDT
Photo illustrations by Alex Castro, Amelia Holowaty Krales, Grayson Blackmon
It was March 2020, and restaurants across the country were shutting down, setting up takeout windows, or doing whatever they could to absorb the shock of COVID. But it was Chuck E. Cheese, of all places, that had the foresight and steely clarity to see not just what the new era required, but what it permitted. With much of America suddenly interacting with restaurants through delivery apps, the food industry had been transformed into e-commerce, and the arcade better known for its ball pits than its food was free to invent a new identity: “Pasqually’s Pizza & Wings.”
The COVID-19 pandemic forced many restaurants, both locally and around the world, to pivot to inventive solutions and new services in order to make up lost revenue from the lack of in-restaurant dining.
Some restaurants began offering delivery for the first time, while others, like State College serial restaurateur Hitham Hiyajneh, took advantage of an accelerating dining trend: ghost kitchens.
A ghost kitchen is essentially a restaurant brand that has no physical location. Instead, it uses current restaurants’ kitchens and offers delivery and takeout-only options in partnership with that restaurant. The brand provides marketing and the menu, while the restaurant provides the ingredients, tools, physical location and labor.