What a Ghost Kitchen Buildout Actually Costs

Mon May 18 2026 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

What a Ghost Kitchen Buildout Actually Costs

Operators new to the format hear "ghost kitchen" and price it like a food truck — small, light, $50K. Then they walk a vacant commercial shell with a kitchen designer and learn the real number is closer to $250K once you include hood and fire suppression to code, full refrigeration, prep stations, POS hardware, and the build-to-commercial-kitchen permits. This post is a line-item breakdown of where the money actually goes, and what most lenders will finance versus what you'll need to bring in cash.

The five line items that drive 80% of cost

Hood and fire suppression (Type I commercial hood, ANSUL suppression system, NFPA 96 compliant ductwork) runs $25,000 to $60,000 installed depending on length and grease load. Refrigeration (walk-in cooler, walk-in freezer, line refrigeration) runs $30,000 to $80,000 depending on whether you're using new equipment or quality used. Prep stations (work tables, sinks, smallware) run $15,000 to $40,000. POS and tablets (third-party platform tablets, kitchen display systems, printer hardware) run $5,000 to $15,000. General contracting and permits — the actual cost of putting all of this together to local commercial kitchen code — runs $40,000 to $150,000 depending on metro and the condition of the shell.

Those five categories explain roughly 80% of a typical buildout cost. The remaining 20% is everything else: small appliances (combi ovens, fryers, ranges), specialty equipment for specific menu types, marketing for launch, and 2-3 months of operating runway to bridge to revenue.

What lenders will fund — and what they won't

Equipment lenders will fund the equipment categories (hood, refrigeration, prep stations, POS) without much friction. They've underwritten ten thousand restaurant equipment deals and they recognize this list. Where it gets harder: general contracting and permits. A lot of equipment lenders won't underwrite "soft costs" — the labor and permit fees that aren't tied to a piece of equipment with collateral value. For that piece, you typically need a working-capital loan, an SBA-7(a), or alt-lender financing. Most successful buildout deals combine an equipment loan for the hardware and a working-capital line or SBA loan for the soft costs.

Working capital for operating runway is its own conversation. Most lenders won't fund pure runway, but they'll fund inventory and initial marketing as a "working capital" line tied to the buildout. Plan to have 60-to-90 days of operating cash on hand from your own equity contribution — that's a category lenders consistently skip.

A realistic capital stack

For a $250,000 total buildout, a realistic stack might look like: $150,000 equipment loan (hood, refrigeration, prep, POS) at 5-7 year terms, $60,000 SBA or working capital line for general contracting and permits, $40,000 operator equity for operating runway and emergency reserve. That stack is approvable in 4-to-8 weeks for an established multi-unit operator. First-time ghost kitchen operators often need to bring 25-30% equity to make the same deal close.