Location-less restaurant thrives during coronavirus lockdown

LA startup Bowlila shares a colony "ghost kitchen" with 25 other restaurants, each with its own small kitchen for takeout and delivery options

Spotted: Middle Eastern-inspired LA startup Bowlila are pioneering the world of ghost kitchens. Unlike traditional brick and mortar restaurants, they don’t have a location. Instead, the trendy, Instagram-worthy chickpea bowls are based out of a colony ghost kitchen in West Los Angeles and prepare food solely for delivery.

Together with 25 other restaurants and various brands providing delivery and pick up, they each have their own small kitchen for takeout and delivery options. Lizz Bommarito, the operations manager at Bowlila, says that this makes the coronavirus restrictions easier to manage.

“We can provide the most food to the most amount of families and the most amount of people working from home with the least amount of contact and least amount of overhead,” said Bommarito.

Inspired by cuisine from around the world, including Asian, Caribbean and European cultures, Adlah and Badr have put their culinary experiences together to chef up some tasty bowls in West LA and Santa Monica. Balila is also completely plant-based, and almost everything is gluten-free.

During a time of uncertainty, Bommarito says Bowlila was lucky to be an innovative business that could adapt easily. Bowlila will soon also have an electric bicycle cart that will serve up its chickpea bowls from different locations across LA.

Explore more: Food & Drink Innovations | COVID-19 Innovations