Ten years ago (I moved since), there was a ghost kitchen in the Bay Area that was great. I wish I could remember the name. But it produced meals that were extremely well packaged, but designed to be reheated at home (it took like 15 min max). It was great because the meals could be pre-ordered and delivered by the time you got home. You could tell the recipes were all tweaked to fit the specifics of delivery and reheating.

This was an example of a well functioning ghost kitchen. I don’t know how profitable they were, but it was very convenient. There are a lot of downsides to this approach, like pre ordering, reheating, and limited menu, but it was a very different approach to current ghost kitchens around me now or DoorDash from a local restaurant.

The ghost kitchen model can work if the meal recipes are optimized for being microwave heated at destination before consumption. So pre-cooked, but not hot during transport. This allows a more reliable quality for the customer. This allows the kitchen to prepare in advance, also reducing waste.

I think Lazy Dog does that and calls them TV dinners.