Guides
Ghost Kitchen Formats Compared: Commissary, Pod, Host Kitchen, Trailer
Ghost kitchen formats compared: commissary suites, container pods, host kitchens and trailers, with what each one costs to enter and what you can sell when you leave
What to take away
- A commissary suite is the default US formatyou license the address, build your line, and hold a lease you can assign.
- A container pod or trailer is equipment, not real estate, so it is fast to start and hard to sell.
- A host kitchen inside an existing restaurant gives you a licensed address and someone else's hours.
- Ask about the exhaust route, the grease interceptor and the electrical panel before you sign anything.
- The cheapest format to enter usually leaves the least to sell.
The four formats a delivery-only operator actually chooses
A delivery-only kitchen is production space with no dining room. In the United States that means four workable formats, and the format decides most of your risk before you tour a single unit.
Four Ghost Kitchen Formats
Commissary suite
- What you rent
- Licensed kitchen space
- Who holds license
- You
- Main risk
- Fit-out and lease
- Sellable on exit
- Yes, with assignment
Container pod
- What you rent
- Unit and pad
- Who holds license
- You
- Main risk
- Permits and utilities
- Sellable on exit
- Equipment only
Host kitchen
- What you rent
- Restaurant off-hours
- Who holds license
- Host restaurant
- Main risk
- Host's schedule
- Sellable on exit
- No
Trailer
- What you rent
- Mobile unit on land
- Who holds license
- You
- Main risk
- Hard to finance
- Sellable on exit
- No
Commissary suite. A private or shared kitchen inside a licensed facility, usually in an industrial or mixed district. You hold the food license for your space and sign a lease or license agreement. This is the format most US operators mean when they say ghost kitchen.
Container pod. A purpose-built unit dropped on a lot, sometimes stacked. You are buying or leasing equipment and a pad, not a building. Permits for water, grease and power run through the host site.
Host kitchen. You cook inside a restaurant that already holds a license, during hours it does not use. Rent is often a flat monthly fee plus a share of delivery sales.
Trailer. A mobile unit parked on private land. Cheapest to start, and the hardest to finance or sell.
What each format costs to enter
Illustrative US ranges, not quotes. Confirm locally.
Entry Cost and Time to First Order
Commissary suite
- Entry cost
- $15,000-$60,000
- Time to first order
- 8-16 weeks
Container pod
- Entry cost
- $25,000-$80,000
- Time to first order
- 6-12 weeks
Host kitchen
- Entry cost
- $2,000-$10,000
- Time to first order
- 2-5 weeks
Trailer
- Entry cost
- $10,000-$40,000
- Time to first order
- 3-8 weeks
Typical entry cost
- Commissary suite
- $15,000 to $60,000 fit-out
- Container pod
- $25,000 to $80,000 delivered
- Host kitchen
- $2,000 to $10,000 equipment
- Trailer
- $10,000 to $40,000 used
Time to first order
- Commissary suite
- 8 to 16 weeks
- Container pod
- 6 to 12 weeks
- Host kitchen
- 2 to 5 weeks
- Trailer
- 3 to 8 weeks
The gap is mostly permits and utility work. A commissary suite needs a hood, make-up air and a grease interceptor sized to your cooking line, which is the sequence covered in ghost kitchen build-out: permit, exhaust and lease before you design.
A pod or trailer still needs a commissary or a permitted base of operations in most states, because grey water and grease have to go somewhere legal.
The license question decides the format
In a commissary suite or a pod, you hold the food service license for your operation. Make the lease conditional on that license being issued, not on your application being filed.
In a host kitchen, the restaurant holds the license. You operate under its permit and its inspection record. Ask to see the license and its current conditions before you agree to anything.
A host kitchen also means the host's closing time is your closing time. If the restaurant closes for a week, you close for a week.
What the building has to provide
Confirm four things before signing: exhaust route, make-up air, grease interception, and gas and electrical capacity. Shared ventilation systems are built and maintained to a standard such as NFPA 96, including hood cleaning schedules you inherit.
Four Building Checks Before Signing
- Exhaust route and your right to use it
- Make-up air capacity for your cooking line
- Grease interception sized to your menu
- Gas and electrical capacity, amps matter
- Hood cleaning schedule you inherit
Electrical capacity is the quiet killer. A pod with a 200-amp service will not run a bank of combi ovens, and the code side sits in NFPA 70.
A host kitchen shifts the question to scheduling. Two brands sharing one line at different hours works. Two brands sharing one fryer at the same hour does not.
Example: two commissary suites, same rent
Suite A sits in a converted warehouse with its own exhaust riser to the roof and a 400-amp panel. Suite B shares a corridor hood with three neighbors and a 200-amp panel.
Two Suites, Same Rent
Suite A
- Exhaust
- Own roof riser
- Electrical panel
- 400-amp
- Add second oven
- Yes
- Neighbor menu risk
- Low
Suite B
- Exhaust
- Shared corridor hood
- Electrical panel
- 200-amp
- Add second oven
- No
- Neighbor menu risk
- Changes your airflow
Same rent, same square footage. Suite B costs more to run because you cannot add a second oven, and a neighbor's menu change can change your airflow.
Comparing two sites inside one format
A tour will not show you these. Ask for them in writing.
- License history at the address, including any conditions or objections.
- Residential neighbors above, behind and across the street.
- The exhaust route, your right to use it, and where it discharges.
- Dayparts. Stand there at lunch, evening and late.
- Previous occupant's workswhat was permitted, what was not, who owns the equipment.
- Delivery and waste access at the hours you will use them.
If you are weighing a commissary against a shared pod, the rent lines and site requirements are set out in ghost kitchen lease costs in plain terms as of 2027.
The exit is where formats separate
A commissary lease with a reasonable assignment clause is a saleable asset. You sell the lease, the equipment and the trading history together.
A host kitchen agreement and a trailer generally are not saleable. When the agreement ends, the business ends with it.
Decide which you are building before you sign. A host kitchen is a good way to test a menu, and a poor way to build something you can sell.
Software choice follows the format. A host kitchen needs scheduling and a second brand on one printer, which is part of 5 points on choosing ghost kitchen software.
Common questions
Can I run a ghost kitchen from a trailer in the US?
Usually only with a permitted commissary or base of operations for water, grease and waste. Check state and county rules first, because some jurisdictions do not allow it at all.
Does a host kitchen agreement give me any rights to the space?
Rarely. It is a license to use someone's kitchen, not a tenancy, so you have few protections if the host ends it.
Which format is cheapest to leave?
A trailer. You tow it away. That is also why it builds the least saleable value.
Do I need my own food license in a commissary suite?
Yes, for your operation. The facility holds its own permit, and your lease should be conditional on your license being issued.
