Commissary kitchens are licensed commercial spaces that include both cooking and storage facilities for preparing and storing food. These are typically large-scale environments regulated by local health departments. Commissaries can serve as a central kitchen for one concept or as rented kitchen space for multiple businesses or food providers.

“Commissaries are on trend with ghost and cloud kitchens,” says Levi Olmstead, director of marketing for Chicago-based 2ndKitchen, which helps foodservice operations serve food without having to set up a kitchen. “These commercial kitchens have assisted many in the foodservice industry, including chains, in cutting costs and expanding reach.”

Commissaries can serve as central kitchens that support satellite sites, too. “This may be for a school district serving K-12 schools, hospitals or casinos, for example,” says Nahum Goldberg, principal at NGAssociates Foodservice Consultants, Inc., a foodservice consulting firm based in El Cerrito, Calif. “[The commissary’s makeup] depends on the menu and how many locations are being served.”

Commissary Types

Although all commissaries provide the same function — a centralized location for food preparation and storage — there are different types of operations.

“The two main commissary models are non-delivery, which includes food trucks or chefs preparing meals in bulk to store and distribute, and the delivery model, where restaurants or ghost/cloud kitchens use the commissary to prepare food and as a pickup point for deliveries,” Olmstead says.

Shared commissaries are geared to chefs looking to test a concept or those needing food prep space to accommodate a pop-up restaurant or food truck. Chefs also have the option to lease a private commercial kitchen where they become the sole renter. “There are some commissaries that people rent by the hour and others like cloud or ghost kitchens that may rent the space month to month or more long-term,” Olmstead says.

Another commissary option is renting a restaurant kitchen during its off hours. While cheaper than a private kitchen, this approach may limit production times and storage capabilities. Renting kitchen space in other facilities, such as schools or churches, may be a better alternative as the availability may be better suited to the production needs.

Commissaries’ size, design and equipment lineup vary, depending on the operation and space. “Sizes range all over the place, from 1,000 up to 100,000 square feet, depending on what you’re looking to do,” Olmstead says. “The smaller size is more suitable for food truck vendors, while a larger commissary can accommodate cloud kitchens with big orders.”

The business type, model and scale will determine the commissary’s design. A kitchen created for food trucks or pop-up restaurants will look different than one for a large-scale catering operation or ghost kitchen concept.

Benefits and Challenges

Utilizing a commissary kitchen offers a variety of benefits. For those renting out the space, it may be more affordable than purchasing a commercial kitchen. Many commissary kitchens include equipment to handle all prepping, cooking and storage needs. Also, this can be an effective way for those in the industry to network with other chefs as well as work on menu development. Best of all, chefs have more flexibility with food preparation and location.

“Flexibility is one of the biggest benefits in using a commissary because foodservice operators don’t have to build and operate their own kitchens,” Olmstead says. “Kitchens can be rented on a month-to-month or hour-to-hour basis, and operators are not tied to a physical location. Operators also don’t have to worry about outdated equipment or adequate storage space.”

Commissaries that act as central kitchens also can save on labor and food costs due to added efficiency. “When serving 20 schools or 15 satellite kitchens on a university campus or hospital that has 10 different dining areas, doing most of the work in a commissary makes sense,” Goldberg says. “The logistics of receiving product centrally and preparing and distributing it to different sites means operations can build out smaller kitchens, save on prep space and simplify management.”

Switching from a cook-and-serve to a cook-chill model also minimizes waste as product has a longer shelf life. “Operators also aren’t tied to serving times as items can be prepared several days in advance,” Goldberg says. “This creates a much more convenient labor plan.”

The challenges of renting a commercial kitchen include a higher cost for those starting out, a location that may not be ideal, and potential issues with renting time slots and scheduling with shared kitchens. “There’s also not a lot of privacy when a commissary is shared with others,” Olmstead says. “Scaling also can be an issue if you’re a caterer and a big event order comes in.”

Commissaries’ setup may represent a very different approach to on-site cooking for some chefs. “It requires different management skills than running a single kitchen,” Goldberg says. “Operators need to consider how they will be scaling recipes, the cooking process, logistics and transportation requirements.”

Also, when transitioning to a commissary production approach versus using individual scratch kitchens, scrutinize menus to ensure offerings are suitable. “For example, fried foods don’t travel very well,” Goldberg says. “Menus with fried and grilled products may require finishing kitchens at satellite locations.”

Equipment and Supply Requirements

The foodservice operation’s or chef’s needs will factor into what equipment a commissary kitchen requires. “Typical commissaries encompass grills, fryers, warming stations and food prep areas, but not always specialized equipment, such as waffle makers,” Olmstead says.

Commissary kitchens typically provide a secure storage area, such as locked cages, for renters to safely contain their ingredients and individual supplies. Walk-in refrigerators are staples of these kitchens due to having a large storage capacity. Operators typically use rolling carts to transport ingredients and necessary supplies from one area to another.

For bulk prep, large mixing kettles, pump/fill stations for filled product, blast chillers or chilled water bath systems may be part of the equipment package. Depending on the commissary’s size and function, the cooking and prep areas could include automated can openers, packaging equipment to seal food trays for shipping and a test kitchen for new recipe trials.

“The kitchen’s flow is very important,” Goldberg says. “There must be a clear path through the kitchen for receiving and sending products out.” This includes area for ingredient management, a prep area, space for cold storage and a place for specialized thawing equipment, such as a rethermalizer and bulk cooking capabilities. Commissaries also include office space for managing orders as well as distribution aspects of the operation.

Staff will need to wash, rinse and sanitize hot holding carts and speed racks. There also should be a cart wash area for roll-in carts that includes a power wash system integrated with drains.

“Dishes can be held hot and dished up, then set out on serving carts or stored and reheated,” Goldberg says. “Lots of staging is needed in these kitchens, and there needs to be adjacencies to the dock, waste management and washing areas.”

Logistics will vary, depending on the operation utilizing the commissary. For example, commissary kitchens servicing large hospitals may receive large amounts of government surplus stock or be a part of county or city feeding programs.

“These operations may receive many pallets of surplus food that require dry, refrigerated or frozen storage in large areas,” Goldberg explains.

Local codes will dictate waste disposal requirements. Waste disposal areas must be far enough away from storage, prep and water supply areas to ensure food safety is not an issue.

“When looking at dollars and cents, there is a large capital expenditure for those investing in their own commissary, but the labor savings is a serious aspect to consider,” Goldberg says.

For those starting a business, utilizing a commissary provides an affordable and flexible alternative to investing in a commercial kitchen of their own.