Central Kitchen
Also called: commissary kitchen
What is Central Kitchen?
A central kitchen is a shared facility that prepares semi-finished or finished items for several outlets. Outlets then finish and serve, which standardises taste and moves labour and storage off the retail floor.
Why Central Kitchen matters
Central production cuts per-outlet labour and improves consistency, but adds transfer, cold chain and reconciliation work. Untracked transfers make outlet-level food cost meaningless.
How Central Kitchen works in practice
Treat each transfer as a documented movement with a value, so the central kitchen issues stock and the outlet receives it. Without that, every outlet's stock count drifts and nobody can explain the gap.
Frequently asked questions
Usually from three or four outlets in one city, where the fixed cost is spread and transport is short.