Ralphs Opening Ghost Kitchens

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Ralphs Opening Ghost Kitchens

Post by Bagels »

Ralph's is experimenting opening ghost kitchens, beginning with its Westwood store.

https://www.kitchenunited.com/ralphs-westwood-mix/

Early in the pandemic, Albertsons experimented with ghost kitchens at various Pavilions locations, but received blacklash when people realized the food they were ordering was coming from a grocery store. I don't believe any exist anymore. But if such idea is to succeed, Westwood (UCLA-area) is the place to do it.
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Re: Ralphs Opening Ghost Kitchens

Post by HCal »

10+ restaurants in one location? Order from multiple local restaurants in the same order?

What exactly is their definition of "restaurant"?

I imagine this might catch on among UCLA students who might like to order food and don't have cars. I've been to that Ralphs and it is huge, and very busy. They even have a bar where you can sit down and enjoy a beer.
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Re: Ralphs Opening Ghost Kitchens

Post by CalItalian »

The first location has opened in Westwood Village.

https://www.laweekly.com/ralphs-westwoo ... nited-mix/ (Video)

https://www.supermarketnews.com/prepare ... d-la-store

This store had a very large, shall we call it, self-serve buffet. It hadn't been used since Covid started. Glad to see it has mostly been removed. Was never really popular. But they also consolidated the service deli area which I don't think was a great idea. Sushi Bar has also been removed.

This may be the largest Ralphs by square footage but it was not designed correctly during the expansion when they took over the Best Buy space. Some aisles are tight while there is wide open spaces that aren't used. Yes, I know it use to be the woman's department of Bullock's department store.
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Re: Ralphs Opening Ghost Kitchens

Post by pseudo3d »

HCal wrote: September 13th, 2021, 8:48 pm 10+ restaurants in one location? Order from multiple local restaurants in the same order?

What exactly is their definition of "restaurant"?

I imagine this might catch on among UCLA students who might like to order food and don't have cars. I've been to that Ralphs and it is huge, and very busy. They even have a bar where you can sit down and enjoy a beer.
The idea of ghost kitchens, like Ghost Kitchens in Walmart, is that it's the brands rather than the actual menu, and it's stuff that can easily be prepared from one or two ingredients, especially if it can just be reheated by microwave or throwing it in a deep fryer.
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Re: Ralphs Opening Ghost Kitchens

Post by veteran+ »

CalItalian wrote: January 7th, 2022, 1:05 pm The first location has opened in Westwood Village.

https://www.laweekly.com/ralphs-westwoo ... nited-mix/ (Video)

https://www.supermarketnews.com/prepare ... d-la-store

This store had a very large, shall we call it, self-serve buffet. It hadn't been used since Covid started. Glad to see it has mostly been removed. Was never really popular. But they also consolidated the service deli area which I don't think was a great idea. Sushi Bar has also been removed.

This may be the largest Ralphs by square footage but it was not designed correctly during the expansion when they took over the Best Buy space. Some aisles are tight while there is wide open spaces that aren't used. Yes, I know it use to be the woman's department of Bullock's department store.
I'm gonna have to visit that store, though it is a little too far for shopping (perishable considerations).

On remodels: Ralphs has a habit of doing that thing with spacious aisles and areas matched with overly narrow aisles.
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Re: Ralphs Opening Ghost Kitchens

Post by storewanderer »

veteran+ wrote: January 8th, 2022, 9:15 am
I'm gonna have to visit that store, though it is a little too far for shopping (perishable considerations).

On remodels: Ralphs has a habit of doing that thing with spacious aisles and areas matched with overly narrow aisles.
Kroger has gotten terrible with space allocations on remodels in the past 5-7 years. They seem to do a nice job making the perishable areas (too?) spacious then in the process they completely screw up center store making aisles too narrow, facings on key items too few, etc.

Oddly on new stores they seem to get the spacing right throughout the store.
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