Monitoring and Evaluating the Impact of Dark Kitchens on the Food Environment: Understanding gaps in the data

Research question: How can local authorities monitor, evaluate, control and work with dark kitchens to support population health?

Background: Dark kitchens (DKs) have various definitions, but are generally understood to be food preparation kitchens without a storefront, optimised for delivery. However, there is significant variance in the meaning attached to DKs by different people, or groups of people. To the best of our knowledge, there is currently no work being undertaken outside of London and specifically in the North of England around DKs.

We do not know if current mechanisms to survey and monitor the food environment, such as the Food Standards Agency Food Hygiene Rating Data adequately capture DKs and the type of foods they provide, therefore we will explore if and how DKs are captured in administrative datasets and look for potential gaps with the current data collection methods to provide a good reflection of what is happening on the ground.

Aim: to explore if, and how, we can monitor and assess dark kitchens to understand how they impact on diet (and subsequently health). Methods: We will use mixed-methods to explore DK activity across the North of England.

Objective 1) Explore and agree a working definition, or definitions, of DKs; Identify DKs across the North of England using social media (SM) analysis on DK activity (identification of key terms around DKs, use of web scraping techniques across popular SM platforms, and creation of a concept map of frequency of key DK terms).

Objective 2) Cross reference SM analysis with existing datasets used to monitor food environments (e.g. FSA Food Hygiene Rating data, planning data and commercial rates data) to explore who is trading as a DK, how this can be identified in existing data, and to demonstrate any gaps.

Objective 3) Survey all local authorities in England to explore the monitoring of DK trading; Assess, through workshops, the roles that that planning, local authorities (LAs) and national policy can play in regulating the proliferation of DK establishments. Objective 4) Develop a logic model and feasible future intervention plan.

Timelines for delivery Feb 2024: Project start. Feb-Mar 2024: Working definition of DKs in North England agreed. Mar-Apr 2024: SM analysis on DK activity / creation of protocol for SM identification of DKs. May 2024: SM analysis results cross-referenced with existing food environment data. Mar-May 2024: All LAs in England surveyed regarding registration activity of DKs.

Apr-May 2024: Hold workshops to discuss roles that planning, LAs and national policy can play in regulating the proliferation of DK establishments. Jun-Jul 2024: Logic model and new intervention plan developed. Jul 2024: Project end.

Anticipated impact and dissemination: There is a need for LA multi-disciplinary teams working in the food environment space to have access to a relevant and up to date evidence base on DKs. Working with our national and local collaborators we will ensure findings are disseminated beyond the traditional academic audiences, to policy partners in local and national government with particular attention to colleagues working in public health, planning and environmental health colleagues.

Planned outputs include a protocol for SM identification of DKs, a co-authored policy document led by a colleague from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, an online dissemination event for LA colleagues, a Fuse (www.fuse.ac.uk) brief and podcast.