Goop Kitchen

Goop Kitchen is a delivery-oriented restaurant chain launched in 2021 as part of Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop lifestyle and wellness business. The menu includes salads, soups, pasta, pizza, rotisserie chicken described as organic, free-range, antibiotic-free and air-chilled, and Norwegian salmon described as sustainably sourced. Dishes are gluten-free and are prepared without refined sugar or preservatives; the culinary approach is linked to Paltrow's "clean plate" cookbook and avoids ingredients such as preservatives, refined sugars and dairy.

The concept was created by a venture studio assembled shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic by co-founder and CEO Donald Moore, previously an executive at the Cheesecake Factory, together with Mendocino Farms co-founder Mario Del Pero, an operator whose family owned the Chicago-area Dominick's grocery chain, and Nathan Tan, a brand strategy and marketing executive who had worked with Mercedes and Cadillac and had led one of Goop's early brand partnerships. Goop Kitchen was designed specifically around delivery, with the team reworking packaging (larger salad containers, recessed inserts for dressings) and customer service, including live phone support for delivery problems.

For roughly its first five years the restaurants were concentrated in Orange and Los Angeles counties in California. The chain has since added locations in the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City, and a location at UC San Diego's Triton Center was expected to open in fall 2026.

Founding story

Before the pandemic, Donald Moore — then a Cheesecake Factory executive who had worked on an attempted acquisition of Mendocino Farms — formed a venture studio with Mendocino Farms co-founder Mario Del Pero, an operator from the family behind the Chicagoland Dominick's grocery chain, and brand strategist Nathan Tan. Tan's prior work on one of Goop's first brand partnerships connected the group to Gwyneth Paltrow, who had long wanted to enter food; Goop itself had begun with restaurant recommendations, and the cooking approach drew on her clean-eating cookbook. Goop Kitchen launched in Los Angeles in 2021.

Business model

Goop Kitchen sells prepared meals for delivery and takeout under the Goop consumer brand. Some locations operate out of shared ghost-kitchen facilities that house multiple restaurant brands and rely on app-based ordering; the first New York outlet was delivery-only and operated from the Picnic ghost kitchen near Times Square. Orders can be placed in advance, and the fulfillment system caps the number of orders accepted per hour.

Traction

The brand grew from a 2021 Los Angeles launch to locations across Orange and Los Angeles counties and, by 2026, the Bay Area and New York City, with a further site planned at UC San Diego. Its CEO said in June 2026 that after five years the business had faced many challenges but was gaining traction, and the company reported exceptionally strong demand at its New York debut.

Latest developments

Goop Kitchen opened its first location outside California in New York City in April 2026, at the Picnic ghost kitchen at 245 W. 46th St. near Times Square, as the first of a planned wider city rollout. Days after opening, the location temporarily closed, which the company attributed to technical difficulties and a facility-wide internet outage while continuing to fulfill pre-orders. In June 2026, an upcoming location at UC San Diego's Triton Center was reported as expected to debut that fall, alongside Jeff's Beach Burgers and Intermission Cafe.