> Ghost kitchens promised lower costs. The math never worked. Delivery apps charge restaurants up to 30% commission fees5. Ghost kitchen operators add rent plus percentage fees on top. Equipment repairs and maintenance create constant expenses. Marketing costs multiply when you have no storefront presence.

> Layering these costs together, restaurants discovered a devastating truth: there wasn't enough money left for anyone to make a profit.

So is that true of working with delivery apps, generally? All of those points are also are true of regular restaurants with a storefront, except the last one about marketing expenses. Are the delivery apps just surviving parasitically on restaurants that would be better off without them?

> Are the delivery apps just surviving parasitically on restaurants that would be better off without them?

Yes. At least according to the restaurants themselves.