> i dont think youve really addressed why a delivery only kitchen would fail consistently.

It would fail consistently because it has a worse dwell time compared to a comparable restaurant that also does take out while providing no real advantages. There are just no margins for error in a restaurant business. If your competitors dwell time is 10 minutes and yours is 30, you are done.

Here's is why the proximity to the residential area is important: kitchens are staffed by the group of people on the lowest tier of the economic ladder. These people use public transportation to get to places, not cars. The industrial zones where the rent is cheap aren't accessible easily via public transportation which means the kitchen staff has problems getting there, which in turn means that it selects other places.

If an industrial area is easily accessible by a car from the residential areas which is what is necessary for it to be a good source for deliveries then the rent in that area is only slightly lower than the rent in the residential area so there's really no win at putting the kitchen there. To get a win on rent one needs to put it 20-30 minutes away where the rent could be significantly cheaper. Except that it means that it takes at least 30 minutes to get to the border of the residential area with the food, plus additional 10-15 minutes inside the service area, which means the delivery only saving money by putting the place in the cheaper industrial area restaurant has the following minuses:

1. Difficulty to get kitchen staff 2. 45 minutes of driving to get from its kitchen to an average customer if the driver is immediately available at the location [ the drivers is not at the location: the driver is probably at the transit somewhere in or around the residential area so the turn around becomes at best ~1 h ]

It's competitors located in the residential areas:

1. Don't have the logistical problem at hiring staff 2. Can get food delivered in sub 25 minutes of driving

The only positive for the outskirts kitchen is ~20-30% at best save on the rent.