#ghost kitchen

The other day I was telling @knottahooker​ about some of the intimidating food offerings available at various Guy Fieri joints, and she mentioned that she lived in an area where you could get Flavortown delivered. 

I said it was probably a ghost kitchen; Fieri went hard on the ghost kitchen concept, which (from what I understand) is where you sell marketing rights and recipes to a pre-existing restaurant, which then sells the food on a delivery-only model out of their physical kitchen. It’s a legit way to go; there are some ghost kitchens in Chicago that don’t even pretend, just offer 10-12 “restaurants” out of one address. 

It being a ghost kitchen, I thought there might be one in Chicago too, and sure enough -- when I searched Grubhub for “Fieri” near my location, I turned up a Flavortown with an “Address” of 317 W. Oak. This is amusing because that is a super fancy area of Chicago on the border between Gold Coast and Old Town.

But then I thought, I bet he’s not the only guy ghosting out of 317 W. Oak, so I set THAT as my address and sure enough, up popped two other ghost kitchens.

It’s what the ghost kitchens are that makes this hilarious. 

[ID: The search results for “delivery to 317 W. Oak St” in Chicago, via Grubhub. The three restaurants listed, with photos of their food offerings, are “Another Wing by DJ Khaled”, “Guy Fieri’s Flavortown”, and “MrBeast Burger”.]

Guy. Guy. You cannot be hanging out with DJ “I’m too good to eat pussy” Khaled and a burger joint franchised by a staff-abusing queerphobic YouTube star. 

Author:  @hkvoyage

Rating:  M

Status:  Completed in April 2022

Word Count:  26,034

Summary:  At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, Kurt lived in Lima with his father. Two years later, he returned to New York City. As he needed money to pay for rent and food, he got a job in a booming industry: food delivery. His first delivery order was a pick-up from Warbler Food Enterprises. Little did he know he would meet a cute chef there that would turn his world upside down.

Tropes/Genre:  Covid-19, NYC!Klaine, alternate meeting, romance, chef!Blaine, fluff, deliveryman!Kurt

Lynne’s review:  This sweet story is a gift from hkvoyage to me, and I am so thankful! Both for this story, and for her invaluable help running the library. This story is exactly what I needed. She threw in all the best tropes, some great music, and made me go to the grocery store several times because of the yummy food involved! Definitely check this out.