Behind a large black fence on a side street in Brunswick sits a kitchen housed in converted shipping containers and food trucks. Inside, they are cooking 24 different types of food, from burgers to tacos to schnitzels.

But you can’t walk in and place an order. This is what is known as a “dark kitchen” – a business set up solely to service customers of online delivery apps such as Uber Eats and Deliveroo.

For the past year, delivery drivers have been pulling up to this industrial site to ferry food to hungry people in the inner north who would rather stay at home than go out for a meal.

Residents living close to the dark kitchen are unhappy with the noise, odours and increased traffic late into the evening. Credit:Justin McManus

However, locals are unimpressed with the way Kitchaco, which describes itself as a “multi-restaurant kitchen delivery solution”, has set up in their neighbourhood.