Ghost kitchens — commercial food production facilities built for delivery-only restaurant brands, without dining rooms or customer-facing storefronts — have become one of the fastest-growing segments in Los Angeles food facility construction. The model is appealing: lower rent than a traditional restaurant, no front-of-house construction, and the ability to run multiple brands from a single kitchen footprint.
The reality of building one is more demanding than most operators anticipate. The health department does not distinguish between delivery kitchens and sit-down restaurants. The fire code does not care whether your customers ever see the space. And the electrical infrastructure requirements for commercial cooking are the same regardless of your concept's footprint.
Here is what operators and facilities directors need to know before they sign a lease.
Health Department Permitting: No Shortcuts for Delivery
The LA County Department of Public Health requires a retail food facility permit for any commercial food preparation operation in Los Angeles County — including delivery-only ghost kitchens. The permit process includes:
Plan check submission. Before construction begins (or before you start operating in a pre-existing facility), you must submit a complete set of plans to Environmental Health for review. Plans must show the kitchen layout, all equipment with manufacturer specifications, surface materials (floors, walls, ceilings), handwashing stations, three-compartment sink placement, grease interceptor details, and ventilation system design.
Correction cycles. Health department plan check commonly generates one or more correction letters. Each cycle adds 2–4 weeks. Common corrections involve handwashing station placement, insufficient ventilation documentation, non-compliant surface materials, or inadequate grease interceptor sizing.
Pre-opening inspection. After construction is complete and equipment is installed, a health inspector conducts a pre-opening inspection. The facility must pass this inspection before food preparation can begin. Equipment that is not installed and operational at inspection time will delay your opening.
The health department timeline is often the longest single variable in a ghost kitchen build — plan for 8–12 weeks of review and correction time before permits are issued.
Electrical Infrastructure: The Most Common Surprise
Most ghost kitchen operators lease space in industrial or light industrial buildings that were not designed for commercial cooking loads. The electrical service that was sufficient for light manufacturing, storage, or office use is typically insufficient for a commercial kitchen.
A single commercial range, convection oven, and fryer combination can draw 100–150 amps of 240V power. A full ghost kitchen station with additional equipment can easily exceed 200 amps per station. Multi-station facilities in the 3,000–8,000 square foot range commonly require 400–800 amp three-phase electrical service — a significant upgrade from the 200–400 amp single-phase service common in older industrial buildings.
The utility upgrade process — coordinating with SCE or LADWP for a new service entrance, transformer upgrade, and meter installation — typically takes 8–14 weeks and must be initiated the moment you sign your lease. Operators who wait until construction is underway to address the electrical service routinely delay their opening by 2–3 months.
Type I Hoods and Fire Suppression
Any cooking operation that produces grease-laden vapors — which includes essentially all commercial cooking — requires a Type I exhaust hood and an NFPA 96-compliant fire suppression system (ansul system) within the hood. This applies regardless of the size of the kitchen, the delivery-only operating model, or whether the facility is in an industrial zone.
The hood and ansul system must be designed by a mechanical engineer, submitted to LADBS for plan check, and inspected by the LAFD upon completion. Hood installation also requires coordination with the building's landlord for roof penetration (for the exhaust duct) and with SCE/LADWP for the make-up air system's electrical load.
Operators who assume they can avoid hood requirements because they are "just a delivery kitchen" consistently discover this assumption during health department plan check — at which point the project timeline extends by weeks and the budget increases materially.
The Grease Interceptor
LA County Health requires that all commercial kitchens discharge grease-laden wastewater through an approved grease interceptor before it reaches the sanitary sewer. For ghost kitchens, this means either an in-ground interceptor (if the building's existing plumbing infrastructure supports it) or a grease trap under the sink.
Sizing, location, and installation of the grease interceptor must be approved by both the health department and the local sewer authority. In some jurisdictions, this requires a separate permit from the Department of Public Works or the local sanitation district.
econstruct's Ghost Kitchen Experience
econstruct (CA Lic #964015) has built ghost kitchen facilities and multi-tenant kitchen stations across Southern California, including work in the Vernon, Compton, and City of Industry corridors where delivery kitchen density is highest. Our team understands the health department plan check process, the electrical service upgrade sequence with SCE and LADWP, and the NFPA 96 hood and suppression requirements that govern every commercial cooking build-out.
If you are evaluating a site for a ghost kitchen or planning a build-out, contact us or call 310.740.9999. We will assess the existing infrastructure, provide a realistic timeline and budget range, and help you avoid the surprises that delay most operators.
