Cloud Kitchen & Central Kitchen Fit-Out
Layout, Dispatch, Extract & Cost (2026)

Cloud kitchen, central kitchen: what you are building

“Cloud kitchen”, “dark kitchen” and “delivery-only kitchen” all describe a kitchen that sells through delivery apps and takeaway, with no seats for customers. It can run one brand or several brands from the same line. A central kitchen is different in purpose: it cooks or prepares food in bulk and supplies other outlets, so it behaves more like a small food factory than a restaurant.

Because there is no dining room, most of the money goes behind the pass. Our commercial kitchen setup guide covers the kitchen itself in depth; this page is about what changes when the kitchen is the whole business.

Choosing the unit before you design

Most of the problems in a delivery kitchen come from the unit, not the design. Before you sign, check the points that decide whether a kitchen can work there at all:

• Extract route: where the duct can discharge, and whether there are homes or offices above or behind the unit.
• Power and gas: whether the incoming supply can carry your equipment schedule, and whether gas can be brought in.
• Drainage: a route to the main drain for floor channels and a grease trap you can reach for cleaning.
• Rider access: somewhere riders can stop, wait and collect without blocking the road or the neighbours.
• Deliveries and waste: a loading point and a bin store that do not cross the clean kitchen.
• Council zoning and landlord rules: whether a food premises is allowed in that unit at all.

Layout: one-way flow, even without a dining room

The layout rule is the same as any food premises: product moves one way, from delivery and storage through preparation and cooking to packing and dispatch, and dirty returns never cross clean food. In a cloud kitchen the end of the line is not a pass to a waiter but a packing bench and a pickup shelf. Plan backwards from that point: where orders are checked, bagged and sealed, and where the rider stands.

Multi-brand kitchens add one decision: share stations or split them. Brands with similar cooking methods can share a cookline and differ only at packing. Brands that need different equipment, or that must keep ingredients apart for dietary reasons, need their own prep and cooking zones, each with its own services.

The rider pickup and packing zone

Dispatch is where a cloud kitchen wins or loses on speed. A good pickup zone keeps riders out of the kitchen while letting staff hand over quickly.

• A pickup window or counter at the boundary, so riders never walk into food areas.
• Heated or ambient pickup shelves, sorted by platform, with order screens facing the staff side.
• A packing bench with space for bags, seals, labels and a printer, clear of the cookline's splash.
• Hand-wash points for packers, because they touch finished food and packaging.
• Power and data for tablets, printers and screens planned before walls are finished.

Extract, make-up air and the neighbours

A delivery kitchen can cook for long hours at high volume, so extract matters even more than in a small restaurant. The canopy has to cover every cooking appliance, the duct has to reach a discharge point that will not put smoke and smell into neighbouring homes, and the air taken out has to be replaced, or doors slam and the extract stops working properly. Grease in the duct is a fire risk, so access panels for cleaning are part of the design, not an extra.

Our kitchen exhaust and ducting guide explains canopy sizing, duct routes and cleaning, and prices each part of the system.

Hygiene rules the fit-out must meet

A cloud kitchen is a food premises like any other. The Food Hygiene Regulations 2009 set the physical rules: impervious, washable floors and walls; coved wall-floor junctions where needed; ceilings that do not shed or grow mould; self-closing doors; hand-wash basins with non-hand-operated taps, separate from food-washing sinks; toilets that do not open straight onto food rooms; and drains fitted with a food trap. Stored food must be kept at least 15 cm from the wall and 20 cm above the floor, which decides your shelving.

Our food premises layout requirements guide goes through the regulations clause by clause, and the grease trap guide covers sizing and access.

Central kitchens: cooking for other outlets

A central kitchen adds steps that a cloud kitchen does not have. Food is produced in batches, cooled quickly, portioned, labelled and stored, then loaded for delivery to outlets. That brings its own design points: more cold storage, often separate chiller and freezer rooms; a way to cool cooked food quickly instead of leaving it on a bench; a clean dispatch area with a loading point; and space to wash and store transport containers. Our cold room guide covers chiller and freezer rooms, including dual-temperature pairs for multi-outlet operators.

Approvals and the order of work

Two layers of rules meet in a food fit-out. The Food Hygiene Regulations require food premises to be registered and let health officers inspect and order changes. The local council handles the food premises and business permit, the signboard and, for most fit-outs, a renovation approval. A landlord or mall adds its own fit-out rules and nominated contractors on top.

1. Confirm the unit can legally host a food premises and has a workable extract route.
2. Freeze the menu, equipment schedule and utilities schedule.
3. Get the layout and services drawn, and apply for the council and landlord approvals.
4. Build: builder's work, services first fix, finishes, stainless, extract, cold storage.
5. Install and commission equipment, then prepare for inspection before trading.

Our commercial renovation permit guide covers the council side in more detail.

What a cloud kitchen fit-out costs

These are published ClickBina figures (market estimates, 2026, Klang Valley) for parts of the job. A cloud kitchen has little front-of-house spend, so the kitchen lines below carry most of the budget.

Equipment, cold rooms, the council's fees and the landlord's charges are separate and depend on your menu, unit and building.

What the quotation should itemise

• Builder's work: floor falls, channel drains, grease trap, wall and floor finishes, ceilings.
• Stainless fabrication by item, with grade and sheet thickness in writing.
• Extract: canopy, ducting, fan, make-up air and access panels.
• Electrical, gas and water points matched to the equipment schedule.
• Dispatch zone: pickup counter, shelving, packing bench, power and data.
• Exclusions: equipment, council fees, landlord charges, nominated-contractor work.

How ClickBina can help

Cloud kitchen and central kitchen fit-outs are quoted case by case. WhatsApp us your job details for a quote: the unit size and location, the menu or brands you plan to run, and what equipment you already have. ClickBina is an experienced KL & Selangor contractor and coordinates the trades on multi-trade jobs. We reply within the hour, the price we agree is a flat price with no hidden charges, and a site visit is RM150, waived if you go ahead.

Sources & methodology

• ClickBina kitchen exhaust & ducting guide — extract system, canopy figures.
• ClickBina commercial custom cabinetry guide — stainless steel cabinet rate.
• ClickBina grease trap guide — trap supply-and-install range.
• ClickBina restaurant fit-out cost guide — quick-service outlet rate for comparison.
• ClickBina food premises layout requirements guide — Food Hygiene Regulations 2009 points and storage clearances.

How we estimated prices: every RM figure on this page is quoted unchanged from the ClickBina guides named above. They are indicative Klang Valley market estimates for 2026, not fixed rates or a price for your kitchen.