The truly bizarre and insane prices for having food delivered has killed the ghost kitchen concept. Why on earth would I spend fancy restaurant prices to have mediocre or worse food delivered lukewarm from far away? I'd genuinely rather eat $2 of canned soup and crackers than the $30-60 meal most ghost kitchen delivery services can provide. It costs only a few dollars to fry up a fresh burger on my stove, and it takes far less time than waiting for takeaway. Post-COVID, people have wised up to the pricing and quality gap.

The existence of ghost kitchens are what got me to stop ordering food for delivery[1] and instead actually go to the restaurant to either eat there or pick up the food to take home. That way I actually know who prepared my food and know what to expect in terms of quality.

[1] And now, with the revelation of how using a delivery service can mean that you are stripped of legal rights when interacting with apparently unrelated services (due to overly broad arbitration clauses), using such services has become legally too risky anyway.