Barcelona aims to ban ghost kitchens and dark markets

Rolling back some of the trends spawned by the COVID pandemic

Have you ever heard of ‘dark kitchens’ or ‘ghost markets’? If you’ve ever ordered some takeaway food or groceries to be delivered to your home using an online platform, there are chances that it might have been prepared and packaged in such a facility.

With the uptick in online shopping in recent years, which was then massively spurred during the pandemic lockdowns, such businesses have mushroomed in European cities like Barcelona. They did serve to fill a gap in the growth of demand, however, their opaque business practices have started causing discontent with residents living in their proximity. As a result, the authorities in that city have decided to unroll regulations, which will effectively make their existence difficult.

Also known as macro-kitchens, they can disrupt the neighbourhood rhythm

Last year, for example, there were protests in two different districts of the Catalonian capital against the operations of ghost kitchens. The problems they cause are various. These facilities operate as something akin to industrial factories and, as a consequence, they produce constant noise and odour because they are working 24/7 to meet demand.

The dark kitchens are in essence large co-working spaces containing many kitchens from different restaurants or other establishments. Think of a food court in a mall minus the tables, chairs and glossy storefronts.

Their operations mean that their workers need to come and go when changing shifts in various hours of the day or night. Furthermore, there are the delivery people who come in to collect the orders.

All of that creates overcrowding and nuisance on the street in the vicinity of the ghost kitchen premises. It disrupts the natural flow of the neighbourhood and uproots the normally social aspects of retail and catering businesses.

The Barcelona City Council decided to put an end to some of the aspects derived from the business of home delivery platforms and approved a proposal that regulates these activities in three variants. 

The so-called ghost supermarkets, which do not serve the public and are just large warehouses where orders are prepared and distributed in a hurry, will be banned throughout the city. Ghost kitchens, where food is prepared for home delivery, will only be allowed in two peripheral industrial zones.

There will also be greater demands on prepared food premises (such as restaurants and cafes) from where rations are delivered to homes. They must have an express authorization, space for bicycles or scooters, and for the distributors – known in the sector as riders – to rest or go to the bathroom.