‹‹ Colorado Matters

Innovation’s on the menu to help restaurants make it through tough pandemic times

Listen Now
10min 58sec
Ghost Kitchens ChefReady Mark Bare Angry Bear Fajita Bowls
Andrea Dukakis/CPR News
Mark Bare, owner of Angry Bear Fajita Bowls, cooks food using the kitchen at Denver-based ChefReady. ChefReady is a ghost kitchen which offers facilities to restaurants that don’t have a traditional brick and mortar location.

From ghost kitchens to virtual restaurants, innovations are helping restaurants stay in business, and helping new restaurants open, at a time when the pandemic continues to make operations difficult. Mark and Sally Bare run Angry Bear Fajita Bowls through ChefReady in Denver. Alejandra Gonzalez also uses one of ChefReady's kitchens for her dessert company, Localeta's. ChefReady is the brainchild of Nili Poynter and her husband, who founded the company to give aspiring chefs the chance to start a business without incurring the costs of a brick and mortar restaurant or shop. Paul Allen with NextBite offers another approach using what he calls virtual restaurants.

Ghost Kitchen ChefReady Localita's Alejandra Gonzalez
Andrea Dukakis/CPR News
Alejandra Gonzalez recently opened Localeta's, which specializes in paletas. She uses ChefReady as her kitchen to make her desserts.
ChefReady ghost kitchen Sally Bare Angry Bear Fajita Bowls
Andrea Dukakis/CPR News
Sally Bare chops onions for use in a recipe in her restaurant, Angry Bear Fajita Bowls. Sally and her husband Mark use a ghost kitchen called ChefReady to prepare their food.