For decades, chefs like Aaron London have thrived in the high-pressure environment of restaurant kitchens, meticulously overseeing every aspect of their culinary creations.
After running AL’s Place in San Francisco’s Mission district for seven years, London closed his restaurant in 2022, prioritizing time with his family amidst the intense demands of restaurant life.
This transition led him to cope with what he described as “grief eating,” engaging in a daily ritual of consuming high-end grocery store cookies.
Eventually, he realized he could craft a superior product himself, which inspired him to spend three years learning the ins and outs of mass production.
Last month, Aaron London officially launched AL’s Real Goods cookies, which are now available in numerous West Coast grocery stores.
“At this very moment, somebody might be buying my cookies in one of 90 stores,” London reflects, acknowledging the surreal nature of having his name on mass-produced products that he has not seen or touched.
London is part of a growing trend in San Francisco, where chefs and restaurants are diving into the consumer packaged goods (CPG) market, broadening their reach beyond traditional dining.
Around the same time London debuted his cookies, Flour + Water, another beloved restaurant in the Mission district, unveiled a line of frozen pizzas sold at Whole Foods throughout the Bay Area.
In a similar vein, Corey Lee, renowned chef of three-Michelin-starred Benu, announced the launch of two kimchi products in collaboration with Korea’s Jongga, available at the popular grocery chain H Mart.
Local culinary talents like Brandon Jew from Mister Jiu’s have also joined the CPG revolution, offering frozen dumplings, while Reem Assil from Reem’s markets take-and-heat flatbreads, and David Nayfeld of Che Fico provides pasta sauces and specialty condiments.
According to Kat Karpati, cofounder of Flock Creative—a branding agency that collaborates with food companies—this increase in chef-driven packaged goods can be traced back to chefs like David Chang, who have effectively branded culinary experiences as lifestyle products.
The shift towards home cooking during the Covid-19 pandemic also spurred many consumers to beautify their pantries, influencing this dynamic culinary market.
Younger generations, particularly Gen Z, are keen to curate their kitchen spaces, opting for upscale chef brands as a status symbol among peers, further fueling the demand for these curated products.
While chefs may initially assume that creating a mass-produced item is less challenging than running a restaurant, the reality can be quite different.
Karpati notes, “Working in CPG is so much more complicated—it’s harder in different ways,” as chefs must master new skills such as food science, packaging, distribution, and sales.
For Flour + Water chefs Thomas McNaughton and Ryan Pollnow, the draw of launching their retail arm inspired them to develop a line of frozen pizzas, initiated in 2022 and expanded this month.
Despite their ambition, they discovered that meeting their quality standards required hands-on involvement in the production process.
Thus, they began making dough, shaping, and par-baking each pizza before flash-freezing them on site at Flour + Water, ensuring the product mirrors what they serve in their restaurants.
“The pizza that’s in the freezer is 99% the same as what we serve at the restaurant,” McNaughton asserts, emphasizing their commitment to maintaining quality and integrity.
Adjustments were necessary to adapt the pizzas for home freezers and varying cooking conditions; for example, they increased the amount of tomato sauce to prevent the finished product from becoming dry.
Although the U.S. frozen pizza market was valued at around $7 billion last year, McNaughton and Pollnow initially had no plans to sell grocery store pies when they opened Flour + Water in 2009.
Their focus remains on expanding the restaurant business, particularly through more pizzerias.
For London, the launch of AL’s Real Goods serves as a fresh start, distinct from his restaurant background.
After nearly three decades in an exhausting industry, he is creating a new relationship with food through the lens of packaged cookies.
With a chuckle, he muses, “It’s the future—unless I fail. This is what I do now. As physically painful as it is to say out loud, I will not be going back to restaurants.”
image source from：sfstandard
