From Restaurants to Retail: How Michelin-Starred Brands Are Penetrating Supermarket Shelves

Supermarket chains are bringing gourmet restaurant cuisine to their shelves, turning popular dishes into profitable products to meet consumer demand for high-quality home cooking.

During the pandemic, restaurants had to think creatively to survive. Some food and beverage companies decided to turn their dishes into products that home consumers could make themselves.

Joan Driggs, vice president of thought leadership at IRI, told Food Dive that premium entrees and quality sauces allowed restaurants to enter the retail space and open new sales channels while many peers were going out of business.

"The experience may not be exactly the same, but it does breathe new life into the dine-out experience in the home setting," Driggs said.

Nearly five years later, the momentum of the restaurant-to-retail shift shows no sign of slowing. Several upscale restaurants, including Carbone and Momofuku, are taking up more space in stores, generating millions in additional revenue and expanding their customer base in the process.

Marguerite Mariscal, CEO of Momofuku in New York, said the company saw an opportunity to diversify its business by selling dried ramen, sauces, and seasoned salt through supermarkets.

The company launched its first products in 2020 to capitalize on the surge in home cooking during the COVID-19 pandemic; two years later, its products expanded to major retail channels such as Target and Whole Foods. Currently, the company is focusing on both restaurant and retail operations, with plans to enter 11,000 stores by the end of the year.

Mariscal noted that establishing a presence in consumer packaged goods retail is a way to "future-proof" a business that previously competed only in the fiercely competitive restaurant industry.

"The grocery aisle has had the same products for the past 20 years, and we believe the biggest opportunity lies in the most untapped places," Mariscal said.

She added that the pandemic significantly drove growth in the global flavors section of stores, which created retail opportunities for Momofuku—but not everyone sees it that way.

"We talked to people at Pepsi and Campbell's, and they all advised us to look elsewhere, saying the grocery aisle is the most boring place," Mariscal said. "But when we heard that, we saw opportunity instead."

Leveraging 20 years of consumer data, Momofuku developed retail products such as sweet and spicy ramen and black truffle chili crunch. It also capitalizes on the popularity of founder David Chang—who rose to fame with the Netflix series "Dinner Time Live" and has 1.8 million followers on Instagram.

The company found that 90% of people who follow Momofuku and Chang on social media do not live in cities where its restaurants are located. The launch of its retail business allowed the company to reach these people and generate sales it otherwise could not have achieved.

Mariscal said Momofuku faces challenges in translating restaurant flavors into shelf-stable products. For example, the company has yet to find a way to preserve the original flavor of its signature ginger scallion sauce. Other innovative products were abandoned because they failed to achieve the desired taste or pricing.

"It's really difficult to strike the balance between keeping the product premium without making it too inaccessible," she said.

The increase in premium restaurant products in stores parallels the rise in market share of premium foods—many consumers are seeking higher-end home experiences.

Jeff Turnas, senior vice president of culinary at Whole Foods, told Food Dive earlier this year that despite high prices, shoppers are still buying products they perceive as higher quality, such as sauces and bread.

IRI's Driggs said restaurant brands are still likely to benefit even as budget-conscious consumers cut back, because demand for premium products continues to grow. The Circana executive noted that to succeed in stores, restaurants must secure prime placement on shelves and online channels while leveraging the influence of social media influencers.

Carbone's pasta sauce exploration

Two New York City-based restaurants, Carbone and Rao's, have successfully entered the supermarket market with premium tomato sauce. Both establishments have hired food industry veteran Eric Skae to serve as CEO of their retail divisions.

Rao's—the "crown jewel" in Campbell Soup Company's recent $2.7 billion acquisition of its parent company Sovos Brands—first launched its sauce products in retail in 1992. Since then, Rao's has expanded into soups, pasta, pizza, and lasagna. Rao's annual sales approach $1 billion and maintain double-digit growth. Last year, its products were purchased by half of U.S. households.

Carbone Fine Foods launched its sauce products in 2021, bringing popular dishes to shelves with premium ingredients and pricing higher than most competitors.

Skae, who joined Carbone Fine Foods before the product launch, told Food Dive that the goal was to replicate the restaurant's recipes in a bottle. To that end, the consumer packaged goods brand put the people who best understood the success of the restaurant's recipes in charge of the product path.

Restaurant founder Mario Carbone and his business partner Rich Torrisi are deeply involved in the development of retail products.

"Both of them are very, very actively involved, even leaving Manhattan at 3 a.m. and arriving at our production facility in central Pennsylvania by 6 a.m.," Skae said.

Carbone achieved 80% year-over-year sales growth earlier this year and expanded its product line to include Alfredo sauce and pizza sauce.

Skae said Carbone Fine Foods is driving more innovation in the sauce category. But similar to Momofuku, he admitted the company is still working to bring certain menu flavors to shelves without sacrificing quality. Skae cited pesto as an example—he can make a "spectacular" version in his home kitchen, but scaling it up is challenging.

"If you've noticed, pesto on the shelf tends to brown easily. The leaves oxidize quickly, and the products that don't brown often contain ingredients I don't consider food," Skae said. "Pesto isn't a big category; it just fits our brand."

Skae attributes his success at Rao's and Carbone to recognizing that consumers are willing to pay a premium for higher-quality pasta sauce.

"The shift from mass-market price points to premium categories is very evident," he said. "If I'm looking at other categories, I'd look for similar dynamics: where are the opportunities, where are the white spaces?"