Plant-based imitation-meat darling Impossible Foods is getting into the ghost kitchen game, with an app delivery-only concept called the Impossible Food Shop, and an SF location inside the notorious 60 Morris Street ghost kitchen.
You can already get an Impossible Burger at Burger King. Their imitation sausage is served at Starbucks. And plenty of local San Francisco restaurants carry Impossible Foods’ trendy, plant-based imitation meat products, like WesBurger, Jay’s Cheesesteak, and Hi Tops.
But is the Redwood-City-based Impossible Foods now going into competition with these eateries serving its delicious but fake meat? Kind of. The Bay Area News Group reports that Impossible Foods is “branching out with a restaurant of its own” called the Impossible Food Shop. They report these shops will not be shops, per se, but will be inside the existing hot dog chain Dog Haus, which has a few Bay Area locations, including, per the Bay Area News Group, “475 Sixth St. in San Francisco’s SOMA district.”
That’s funny, because Dog Haus’ own website describes the location as being at 60 Morris Street. But as you see above, those two addresses are just two different sides of the same building, a building which is actually an unkempt ghost kitchen with constant traffic violations. There were at last count some 20 different “restaurants” operating out of 60 Morris, all trying to pass themselves off as brick and mortar, operating under the umbrella of CloudKitchens, which is former Uber whiz prick Travis Kalanick’s latest Silicon Valley act.
And sure enough, when you try to order from The Impossible Shop for that location, your only options are to order via Postmates or Grubhub. For what it’s worth, they carry plant-based burgers, patty melts, chili cheese burgers, and chicken nuggets.
We should note that not every Dog Haus is a ghost kitchen. The Dog Haus in Fremont, listed among the Impossible Food Shop locations, definitely appears to have a brick and mortar location. Meanwhile, the Oakland location is for sure a CloudKitchens ghost kitchen.
We understand that restaurants are exploring different models to adapt to a changing economy. But the ghost kitchen model seems predicated on deceiving customers, and restaurants creating the impression that they are something other than what they actually are. If you’re a ghost kitchen, why not just admit it? Because I could eat imitation, plant-based meat all day; but I have little appetite for a fake restaurant that’s trying to deceive me about their concept and identity.
Related: One Ghost Kitchen Complex In SoMa Is Making Food For Dozens of Delivery Brands [SFist]
Image: Impossible Foods