After pandemic-era boom, these ghost restaurants have stuck around Fort Collins

Erin Udell, Fort Collins Coloradoan
Updated ·4 min read

Want to hear a ghost story?

Each day, kitchens across Fort Collins fire up. Some fry chicken tenders and dish up mac and cheese. Others steam Chinese dumplings or sling pizzas.

None of this food ends up on a restaurant table near you. Every order is either packaged for curbside pickup or delivery, because those kitchens in question? They're really ghosts. Ghost restaurants, that is.

Ghost restaurants — or delivery-only restaurants — have been around for years but became increasingly popular in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic as restaurants hit hard by COVID restrictions looked to diversify their offerings and revenue streams.

While Nosh, a Northern Colorado-based food delivery service, told the Coloradoan it has seen a decline in the concept since its pandemic-era boom, there are still several ghost restaurant holdouts in Fort Collins.

Fort Collins ghost restaurants that are still around

Tender Lovin' Mac Project

Lia Sukornyk gives Tom Harms a delivery order from the Tender Lovin' Mac Project, a ghost kitchen that operates out of The Post Chicken and Beer, on Oct. 19 in Fort Collins.
Lia Sukornyk gives Tom Harms a delivery order from the Tender Lovin' Mac Project, a ghost kitchen that operates out of The Post Chicken and Beer, on Oct. 19 in Fort Collins.

After starting a trio of ghost kitchens out of Fort Collins' Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar in late 2020, Big Red F Restaurant Group has recently retooled its delivery-only offerings. The group, which operates Jax and The Post Chicken & Beer in Fort Collins, unveiled the Tender Lovin' Mac Project earlier this month — combining the most popular menu items from its previously separate Mac Project, Tender Project and Wings Project ghost kitchen concepts, according to Big Red F Executive Kyle Mendenhall. Tender Lovin' Mac Project serves various mac and cheese dishes, chicken tenders, wings, sides and desserts.

Available on: DoorDash

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Wow Bao

You might not think bowling alleys and Asian street food go hand-in-hand, but they have at Chipper's Lanes, where Wow Bao has been operating ghost kitchens since spring 2021. The Chicago-born chain serves up meat- and veggie-filled bao buns, potstickers and dumplings for third-party delivery out of the bowling alley's Fort Collins, Greeley and Broomfield locations, according to owner Matt Hoeven. The business decided to bring in Wow Bao to utilize the excess capacity in their kitchens.

"We're open. We might as well be cooking," said Hoeven, adding that, in addition to Wow Bao's operations, Chipper's Lanes kitchens are still dishing up their regular menus of appetizers, sandwiches, burgers and pizzas for the bowling crowd. Chipper's Lanes has no plans to go back to a single kitchen operation.

"In fact, we continue looking for other unique opportunities to utilize our kitchen," Hoeven said.

Available on: GrubHub, Nosh, wowbao.com

Donatos Pizza

Donatos Pizza — a ghost restaurant partner of Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and Brews — offers a range of pizza, American appetizers, flavored lemonades and milkshakes. The Ohio-based pizza franchise joined forces with Red Robin in 2018 and expanded its reach in the burger chain's properties, including its location at 701 E. Harmony Road in Fort Collins, in 2021.

Available on: GrubHub, Seamless

It's Just Wings

It's Just Wings launched in 2020, offering bone-in and boneless wings, French fries and dessert out of Chili's Grill & Bar and Maggiano's Italian Classics kitchens. The delivery-only brand has been going strong since and is still slinging wings out of Midtown Fort Collins' Chili's location, 3524 S. College Ave.

Available on: DoorDash

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The Melt Down

Melts are the name of the game at this ghost kitchen spinoff at Denny's. In early 2021, the breakfast chain partnered with DoorDash to launch two ghost kitchen concepts: The Burger Den and The Melt Down. While The Burger Den is not available in Fort Collins, The Melt Down is serving up breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert sandwich melts for pickup or delivery out of the city's Denny's, 420 Centro Way.

Available on: DoorDash, themeltdown.com

Slo Roast Kitchen

BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse stepped into the ghost restaurant arena in late 2020 and has since expanded its delivery-only concept, Slo Roast Kitchen, to its Fort Collins BJ's location, 2670 E. Harmony Road. Slo Roast Kitchen offers slow-roasted meat entrees, appetizers, sides, salads and desserts.

Available on: DoorDash

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: These pandemic-era Fort Collins ghost restaurants are sticking around