Who Is Liable In A Ghost Kitchen?

In today’s modern age, you can eat from any local restaurant, right in your own kitchen. Using a food delivery app, you can easily search up nearby restaurants, order from them, and enjoy their cuisine inside your own home within minutes. While convenient and fun, there is a new concerning trend emerging on food delivery apps: ghost kitchens. As a personal injury lawyer can explain, a ghost kitchen is where someone has registered a fake restaurant with a food delivery app. This kitchen could possibly be another business such as a popular chain using a different name to charge different prices for their normal menu. This kitchen could also be just a kitchen with no restaurant at all that is open to the public. In essence, they are virtual restaurants that still provide real food. However, what happens if you get food poisoning from one of these establishments?

Ghost Kitchen Risks

Because a ghost kitchen is still a kitchen, these establishments are still required to follow FDA laws with regards to food preparation and sanitization. However, anyone can create a ghost kitchen with almost no oversight. In fact, there have been a few people on social media that have documented their journey setting up a ghost kitchen within their own home just to see if they could get away with it.

Therefore, the biggest risk with a ghost kitchen is food safety. Food could be stored improperly, food preparation areas may not have been cleaned properly, and expired ingredients may even be used. Since there is little oversight with these kitchens, allergens are a big concern. There is a chance cross-contamination has happened if someone uses a utensil on peanuts, for example, and then uses that same utensil without washing it on your food. Another example could be that some food gets mixed in with yours because an area was not properly cleaned from the last meal made there.

Ghost Kitchen Liability

Imagine this: you’re hungry. You go to your favorite food delivery app. You search up nearby restaurants and find a place you’ve never heard of. Their food sounds amazing, and you decide to order. The food arrives, but so does food poisoning which can result in large hospital bills and extreme emotional distress. Who is liable for what happened to you?

The answer is: it depends. As our friends at Cohen & Cohen can share, the source of your food must first be determined. Is it a well-known restaurant masquerading as another? Is it a virtual kitchen? Or, is it someone in their own home? Here is a breakdown of each:

• Another Restaurant: If the ghost kitchen belongs to a big brand name, then the parent brand is the one at fault for not monitoring the food and following FDA guidelines. Even though they might be using a different name, the main business can be held responsible.
• Virtual Kitchen: Whoever is responsible for preparing the food and maintaining a safe environment can be held liable. Even though this might not be a big chain restaurant, the owner can still be responsible for your food poisoning.
• Random Person: This person can certainly be held liable. There is licensing a person can get to prepare and sell food out of their home, but this does not completely protect them. If they did not maintain a safe food environment or if they do not have the proper licensing, they are at fault.

Additionally, food delivery apps can actually be held liable. It is up to them who can join their apps and advertise their services on it. Therefore, if they did not do proper vetting on someone offering food, then they can be held responsible. In the aforementioned social media example of ghost kitchens in personal homes, some of them were reported to the food delivery app and immediately removed for everyone’s safety because they lacked proper licensing.

However, cases are not a one size fits all sorts of situation. Multiple parties may be liable of which you are not aware, which is why it is in your best interest to seek help from a legal professional. If you get severe food poisoning from what you suspect is a ghost kitchen, contact a personal injury attorney near you for help immediately.