Behind the scenes at Leeds Deliveroo Editions 'dark kitchen' which is changing the face of the food industry

But step inside and the somewhat clandestine and dingy perception is not borne out.

Chefs are readying themselves for a busy shift, preparing and cooking meals to be taken directly to the doors of hungry customers when I arrive at a building, once used as a church, off a side street in a suburb in north Leeds. There are no windows in the premises, but inside, it is white, bright and light.

Pizza, curries and Chinese noodles are all made from the location, a converted red-brick property, which is the only Deliveroo Editions site in Yorkshire. The commercial unit hosts several restaurant brands in a collection of kitchens - and the focus is solely on home delivery. “I would say we emphatically reject the ‘dark kitchen’ label,” says Robert Oxley, Deliveroo’s head of corporate communications.

It may, he speculates, have stemmed from the company’s use of shipping containers for some of its satellite kitchen models, particularly in Editions’ early days. “These are super-kitchens or kitchen hubs,” he says. “‘Dark kitchens’ could not be further from the truth.”

High demand

It is just before 5pm - weekday opening time - and the first two orders have been placed. “There’s a lot of student demand around this area, particularly in Headingley and Leeds city centre,” site manager John Fell tells me. The unit, on the edge of Chapeltown, sits adjacent to a student accommodation block - and both Leeds Beckett and Leeds University are within a five minute drive.

John, 24, previously worked as a restaurant manager at KFC, but joined Deliveroo Editions when it opened in Leeds in October 2017. “The biggest difference is that you don’t deal with face-to-face customers,” he says. “Whereas in a traditional restaurant you have interaction with customers, Deliveroo is all online-based. We don’t get any customers on site here at all.”

Though the company refuses to disclose order numbers from Leeds, or any of its Editions sites for commercial reasons, a steady stream come in on the Wednesday evening I visit.

Leeds site

The Leeds site is one of the delivery company’s smaller Editions premises, with capacity for six occupiers (some have space for up to 12), but, at present - and there is turnover - just three kitchens are in use: by Indian restaurant brand Zouk, pizza joint Proove and Chinese cuisine brand Noodle Inn. The latter, which has restaurants in Sheffield, wanted to expand to a new audience without having to open another restaurant. “It was a very convenient way of going to another city,” says business development manager Yeebin Tham. “It’s had a huge impact on our customer base.”

Deliveroo says its Editions sites help both smaller local restaurants and high street chains to reach new customers and boost their revenues. Many, like those in Leeds, also make use of the sites to create ‘virtual brands’, using their kitchen, equipment and stock to create another menu or cuisine under a different brand name.

“Editions are purpose-built delivery only kitchens, allowing restaurants to set up shop without having to open a premise on the high street,” says Robert. “Restaurants who operate out of these kitchens don’t have the usual capital costs of setting up a bricks and mortar site, which can run into the hundreds of thousands of pounds.”

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