Culinology - June 2021 - 11

EMERGING trends
Restaurant chefs
take aim at retail shelves
High-end eateries are entering the
consumer packaged goods market.
New York City's Levain Bakery launched
its cookies in the freezer aisle of select
grocery stores. Carbone, an upscale
Italian restaurant in New York, Miami, Las
Vegas and Hong Kong, is introducing
pasta sauces online and in East Coast
outlets. The chef behind Chicago-based
Girl and the Goat, Little Goat and Duck
Duck Goat restaurants introduced a line
of condiments for home cooks.
" A lot of businesses are trying to
figure out how to expand beyond the
four walls, " said Alison Cayne, founder
and chief executive officer of Haven's
Kitchen, based in New York. " There's a
lot of movement in the hospitality world to
figure out the product side of things. "
The activity extends beyond traditional
licensing deals between national
restaurant chains and packaged food
manufacturers. As the pandemic broadly
halted indoor dining, several independent
restaurant owners began seeking ways
to package and sell products online or in
grocery stores, Ms. Cayne said.
Her business, Haven's Kitchen, offers
a range of refrigerated sauces sold
nationwide at retailers including Target
and Whole Foods Market. The recipes
were inspired by popular classes at the
cooking school, cafe and private event
venue of the same name, which she
opened and operated for eight years.
She closed the space last summer
due to the pandemic and is focusing
full-time on the consumer products
business. Among factors to consider
when expanding onto retail shelves are
packaging, pricing and production, Ms.
Cayne said.
" I get so many calls from people who
have, say, a pesto and have to figure
out how to ship and get it on grocery
store shelves, " Ms. Cayne said. " If you're
looking to do something quick and dirty
10 | Culinology | JUNE 2021
and get some cash, a fresh pesto is not
the solution there. You need something
shelf-stable, something with good
margins, something that doesn't require
fresh ingredients. "
A restaurant in Manhattan's West
Village, Gotham Bar & Grill launched a line
of gourmet chocolates last year on Faire.
com, an online wholesale marketplace
connecting over 150,000 retailers with
emerging and established brands. The
company said its packaged chocolate
operation " brought our kitchen back to life
while waiting for our great city to reopen. "
Such platforms are providing
opportunities for restaurant owners to
generate revenue during the pandemic.
However, operators may not understand
the complexity of pivoting or expanding
into packaged foods, said Ayeshah
Abuelhiga, founder and CEO of Mason
Dixie Biscuit Co., Baltimore.
She hadn't initially planned to launch a
grocery brand, but a year after opening
her Southern comfort food concept,
customers began asking for her biscuit
dough to bake at home. Demand heated
up quickly.
Five years later, Mason Dixie frozen
biscuits, scones, rolls and handhelds
are sold at more than 6,000 retailers
nationwide. The restaurant closed last
year.
For Ms. Abuelhiga, a key to a
successful entry into the retail market
was identifying a business partner to
supplement her strengths.
" It's very hard to launch from a
restaurant to a consumer brand
without having some level of business
development and marketing experience, "
Ms. Abuelhiga said. " Don't launch into
this alone; find a partner who has the
assets you don't... You need to have
expertise, and don't go into it thinking you
can do everything because one of the
businesses will suffer. "
Culinology - June 2021

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