5 years after its California debut, Gwyneth Paltrow’s fast-casual idea, Goop Kitchen, is formally increasing to its second state. The delivery-focused chain plans to open seven new eating places in New York by the tip of 2026, starting in Midtown West.
New York is the state the place Goop’s shopper model consciousness is strongest, in accordance with the Academy Award-winning actress. And whereas bigger fast-casual rivals like Sweetgreen and Chipotle Mexican Grill have currently struggled to lure diners, Paltrow tells Quick Firm that Goop Kitchen is “just about consistent with most different fast-casual eating places by way of what they cost. And I might argue that our components and our merchandise and our style and presentation is way, far superior.”
Paltrow additionally says she was dealing with elevated strain from her East Coast family members. “It could have been so much simpler to remain nearer to dwelling to complete blanketing out California, however the demand from my household and associates that we carry this to the town was so relentless and overwhelming that I capitulated,” Paltrow says.
With 14 areas in California throughout Los Angeles and the Bay Space and three million orders already processed, Goop Kitchen is accelerating its tempo of latest restaurant openings and intends to function 25 whole areas by the tip of 2026, together with the model’s first-ever dine-in location. New York’s preliminary batch of areas will embody the East Williamsburg, Higher East Aspect, and Flatiron neighborhoods, all with a supply radius starting from one to a few miles.
A marketing campaign constructed for New York
To mark the enlargement to New York, Goop Kitchen additionally debuted its first-ever marketing campaign, “To New York With Love,” that includes Paltrow and different well-known New Yorkers, together with ballet dancer Jovani Furlan, New York Liberty girls’s basketball star Jonquel Jones, and content material creator Coco Schiffer. The marketing campaign will run on social channels like Instagram and TikTok, in addition to native out-of-home marketing.
“We now have Gwyneth, who’s our Higher East Aspect muse,” Jena Wolfe, Goop Kitchen’s vp of promoting, tells Quick Firm. However Wolfe provides that it was important that the marketing campaign function a extra expansive love letter to New York by that includes native artists, creators, and an athlete.
Not fairly a restaurant
Goop Kitchen’s focus has been nearly utterly on supply and pickup orders, an idea often known as a “ghost” or “digital” kitchen, which lacks a bodily eating area and depends on on-line orders to generate income. Throughout the business, digital and supply orders have every grown 4% over the previous 12 months, overperforming dine-in demand, in accordance with market researcher Circana.
Goop Kitchen’s plans to increase a comparatively new restaurant chain in one of the crucial aggressive restaurant markets within the U.S. could seem counterintuitive at a time when quick informal is below strain. For 2026, Sweetgreen has projected a 2% to 4% drop in same-store gross sales, whereas Chipotle has predicted the identical metric can be flat 12 months over 12 months. Privately held Panera Bread is spending $100 million more in its company-operated cafés to fund menu innovation, increase the standard of meals, and add further labor hours.
Why this mannequin may work
Paltrow says Goop Kitchen, whose menu features a $23 pepperoni pizza, $15 on a regular basis kale and brussels salad, and $20 spring salmon bowl, is distinct in its operational method. “As a result of we’re very a lot not a restaurant, we’re maximizing income per sq. foot, and subsequently our unit economics are far more completely different than a restaurant,” says Paltrow.
Visitors at fast-casual eating places has grown 3% over the previous 12 months, Circana experiences, doing much better than the 1% decline for full-service eating places and flat visitors at QSR ideas. Quick-casual chains nonetheless profit from a shopper notion that their meals is more healthy, increased high quality, and even with the latest value hikes, continues to be deemed a worth by diners.
David Portalatin, senior vp and meals and foodservice business advisor for Circana, stated that the biggest, publicly traded fast-casual ideas have been opening shops quicker than they might lure new diners, placing strain on their same-store gross sales figures and disappointing Wall Road buyers. However, he says that the fast-casual chains have been nonetheless taking market share.
“The fact is quick informal, as a phase, has maintained a fairly constant hole on common eater examine in comparison with conventional fast service eating places,” Portalatin tells Quick Firm.
Designing for supply
Goop Kitchen CEO and Co-Founder Donald Moore tells Quick Firm that the chain differentiates itself by producing nearly half of its enterprise within the night, whereas fast-casual chains are usually far stronger at lunch. Common checks are about $47, and there’s little or no menu modification allowed.
“There’s no choice to choose a salad, add rooster, and add dressing,” says Moore. Goop Kitchen’s $16 Italian salad options one among 40 completely different salamis that have been examined. “We studied what’s necessary to Gwyn, necessary to me and our cooks, after which tried to make one thing that’s elevated,” provides Moore. “On the meals, the menu, the aesthetics, the selecting the deal with on one among our baggage, to the fonts we use—she’s in it.”
Moore can be a companion at DFG Ventures, which operates Goop Kitchen together with different manufacturers together with Cravings by Chrissy Teigen, Good Day Chinese language, and The Sausage Venture. He says the analysis and packaging design efforts in California will put together the chain for all of New York’s supply challenges, the place containers are jostled as bike messengers weave by way of crowded metropolis streets.
Goop Kitchen developed customized packaging that has built-in compartments for dressing and sauces. Salads are saved in bigger containers to make it simpler for patrons to combine at dwelling. Goop Kitchen exams objects for as much as 45 minutes to simulate actual supply circumstances, guaranteeing the meals maintains the right construction and temperature.
The Goop issue
Previous to launching Goop Kitchen, Paltrow had established each credibility and controversy within the meals area. The “Iron Man” and “Shakespeare in Love” actress has printed a number of health-focused books, like “The Clear Plate: Eat, Reset, Heal” and “My Father’s Daughter: Scrumptious, Simple Recipes Celebrating Household & Togetherness.”
There has additionally been a public evolution in Paltrow’s method to what it means to eat wholesome meals, together with ditching a yearslong dedication to the Paleo weight-reduction plan, which she acknowledged was too restrictive. Paltrow went viral on TikTok in 2023 when itemizing what she ate in a day; critics have been fast to say Paltrow targeted far an excessive amount of of her weight-reduction plan on bone broth and greens.
“Individuals need company in their very own well being and wellness and the quickest approach to really feel higher is to eat good, clear meals,” says Paltrow, including that she’s skilled trial and error all through her private two-decade wellness journey.
The broader Goop model has confronted setbacks over time, together with layoffs and a restructuring in 2024 to concentrate on three core areas: trend, magnificence, and meals. Goop’s price range magnificence line and Goal partnership have been pulled off cabinets in 2025, and a standalone London boutique was closed in 2021 after three years of operation.
This all reveals that Goop Kitchen can solely leverage Paltrow’s model halo to a restricted extent. “The fact is the American shopper eats out at a restaurant, on common, above 5 occasions per week,” says Portalatin. “And we normally resolve the place we’re going to eat primarily based on: is the meals good? Do I get an excellent expertise?”
