BUENA PARK, Calif. – When it comes to ordering takeout and delivery, John's Incredible Pizza may be on the bottom of many people's list.

Most people know John's Incredible Pizza as a family-friendly restaurant where they take their kids, attend birthday parties, play arcade games, and order all-you-can-eat pizza, fried chicken, and salad buffet.

The family-friendly restaurant concept doesn't necessarily translate to today's new takeout model, said John's Incredible Pizza Director of Marketing and Sales Brad Jashinsky.

To appeal to a broader audience, especially during the coronavirus pandemic when many indoor restaurants have been shut down and most people are relegated to ordering takeout, the Orange County-based John's Incredible Pizza chain has created a virtual sister brand called Boss. Pizza + Wings. The new brand launched on December 23 and is available for curbside pickup and delivery services in Buena Park.

"What we've learned from our other locations that are doing takeout is that a lot of the consumers that know us and fans over the years, in their minds, we're the place to go for all-you-can-eat food and fun," Jashinsky said. "That is a hard thing to translate when it comes to takeout.

"We had some success with takeout," Jashinsky said. "But this was an opportunity to create a new brand and a new menu and offer food items that we could not offer with the all-you-can-eat model."

With the state still not allowing restaurants to operate indoors as part of an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus, the pandemic has forced many restaurant chains to solely focus on preparing food for the takeout and delivery model.

John's Incredible Pizza's move to create a new sub-brand highlights the growing popularity of ghost kitchens during the pandemic. A ghost kitchen, also known as virtual kitchens and virtual food halls, is usually a single brick-and-mortar kitchen facility that houses different virtual restaurant brands to prepare food to pick up and delivery-only orders.

Ghost kitchens aren't new. Kitchen United, Colony, and CloudKitchens specialize in leasing space for restaurant brands to prep food for delivery or pick up. This time around, restaurant chains are using their existing footprint and launching their own virtual brands to diversify their portfolio, appeal to a broader audience, and in some cases, step away from their original brand's reputation.

In July, family entertainment and dining chain Chuck E Cheese created Pasqually's Pizza & Wings to serve as "an option for those who aren't looking for family entertainment but who want bold flavor for a grown-up taste," according to its news release.

Brinker International, Chili's parent company, launched a new virtual kitchen called It's Just Wings. Applebee's created a sub-brand called Neighborhood Wings.

Most recently, on Tuesday, Denny's said it would launch two virtual brands. Denny's will begin rolling out The Burger Den and The Melt Down for takeout or delivery in February.

"This is a low-cost way to drive more sales," said Blake Kaplan, vice president at JLL. Kaplan specializes in restaurant leasing. "You don't have to hire more employees. You don't have to create a new kitchen. Quite frankly, all you're doing is creating a new logo and uploading new pictures on Postmates.

"People are going online, and they want to try something new," Kaplan said. "It's that simple."

Kaplan said it is a lot cheaper to create a virtual kitchen than it is to operate a brick-and-mortar restaurant. It also keeps a lot of workers employed when so many were let go at the start of the pandemic.

However, when some of these virtual brands from large corporate chains began rolling out, many customers vented on social media that they were deceived. Many thought they were supporting a small business when, in fact, they were ordering from a subsidiary of Chuck E Cheese or Applebee's.

One tweet, before it was deleted, from a Mashed.com's story read:

"Why are you lying to me about where my food comes from? Applebees is listed separately. If I wanted their … food, I'd order it."

"ummmm don't make my mistake and order from 'pasquallys pizza and wings' on grubhub... it's literally a code name for chuck e. cheese," wrote another person on Twitter.

Kaplan said this is the biggest challenge these operators face: overcoming their brand's reputation.

He said people don't relate Chuck E Cheese or John's Incredible Pizza as a place for good quality food.

"When you want pizza and wings, you're not going to Chuck E Cheese or John's Incredible Pizza because mentally you know what you're getting. You're getting your kids' food," Kaplan said. "But it doesn't mean you're not getting good food from these other [sub brands] ... Good food is good food."

Jashinsky, the director of marketing at John's Incredible Pizza, said when the pandemic hit and the restaurants were forced to shutter doors, they had to come up with ways to keep business going. The company had opened its restaurants in the state briefly in June before having to shut down again in July. They began offering takeout with John's brand but found their reputation preceding them.

"We saw the market, and what our competitors were doing, so we had to come up with new ideas that are designed for delivery and curbside pick up, for the Uber Eats, Grubhub, and Postmates audience, which is very different from the family fun audience," he said.

There is some overlap, Jashinsky said. But not enough for John to stand on its own in this new takeout and delivery only model.

Boss. Pizza + Wings, which Jashinsky calls John's sister brand, allows them to reach that new audience. It also allowed the company to create new recipes and food items that they would have never done at John's due to the high cost of ingredients and preparation time. The Boss menu is entirely different from the one offered at John's.

Boss features Cali-Detroit style pizza, a type of deep-dish pizza famously known in Detroit with California ingredients, he said. Other items on the menu include loaded mashed potatoes, tater tots, meat lovers pizza, Boss Bacon, salad, and various chicken wings. The cost of a pizza starts at $10.99. Boss wings start at 10 for $10.99.

The food is prepared at John's Incredible Pizza's location at the Buena Park Mall.

Jashinsky said the company would start in Buena Park before moving the concept to other John's locations in Fresno, Roseville, and Las Vegas. He added that they have been transparent with customers, telling them that Boss is a John's brand. They'll also continue rolling out John's Incredible Pizza's namesake pizza and menu items for takeout and delivery.

For now, they want to focus on growing Boss.

"Boss opens a new demographic for us," he said. "It's different food and different recipes. We want Boss to stand on its own."