Five years after its California debut, Gwyneth Paltrow’s fast-casual concept, Goop Kitchen, is officially expanding to its second state. The delivery-focused chain plans to open seven new restaurants in New York by the end of 2026, beginning in Midtown West.
New York is the state where Goop’s consumer brand awareness is strongest, according to the Academy Award-winning actress. And while larger fast-casual rivals like Sweetgreen and Chipotle Mexican Grill have lately struggled to lure diners, Paltrow tells Fast Company that Goop Kitchen is “pretty much in line with most other fast-casual restaurants in terms of what they charge. And I would argue that our ingredients and our products and our taste and presentation is far, far superior.”
Paltrow also says she was facing increased pressure from her East Coast loved ones. “It would have been a lot easier to stay closer to home to finish blanketing out California, but the demand from my family and friends that we bring this to the city was so relentless and overwhelming that I capitulated,” Paltrow says.
With 14 locations in California across Los Angeles and the Bay Area and three million orders already processed, Goop Kitchen is accelerating its pace of new restaurant openings and intends to operate 25 total locations by the end of 2026, including the brand’s first-ever dine-in location. New York’s initial batch of locations will include the East Williamsburg, Upper East Side, and Flatiron neighborhoods, all with a delivery radius ranging from one to three miles.
A campaign built for New York
To mark the expansion to New York, Goop Kitchen also debuted its first-ever campaign, “Made for New York,” featuring Paltrow and other famous New Yorkers, including ballet dancer Jovani Furlan, New York Liberty women’s basketball star Jonquel Jones, and content creator Coco Schiffer. The campaign will run on social channels like Instagram and TikTok, as well as local out-of-home marketing.
“We have Gwyneth, who is our Upper East Side muse,” Jena Wolfe, Goop Kitchen’s VP of marketing, tells Fast Company. But Wolfe adds that it was critical that the campaign serve as a more expansive love letter to New York by featuring local artists, creators, and an athlete.
Not quite a restaurant
Goop Kitchen’s focus has been almost completely on delivery and pickup orders, a concept known as a “ghost” or “digital” kitchen, which lacks a physical dining space and relies on online orders to generate revenue. Across the industry, digital and delivery orders have each grown 4% over the past year, overperforming dine-in demand, according to market researcher Circana.
Goop Kitchen’s plans to expand a relatively new restaurant chain in one of the most competitive restaurant markets in the U.S. may seem counterintuitive at a time when fast casual is under pressure. For 2026, Sweetgreen has projected a 2% to 4% drop in same-store sales, while Chipotle has predicted the same metric will be flat year over year. Privately held Panera Bread is spending $100 million more in its company-operated cafés to fund menu innovation, boost the quality of food, and add extra labor hours.
Why this model might work
Paltrow says Goop Kitchen, whose menu includes a $23 pepperoni pizza, $15 everyday kale and brussels salad, and $20 spring salmon bowl, is distinct in its operational approach. “Because we are very much not a restaurant, we are maximizing revenue per square foot, and therefore our unit economics are much more different than a restaurant,” says Paltrow.
Traffic at fast-casual restaurants has grown 3% over the past year, Circana reports, doing far better than the 1% decline for full-service restaurants and flat traffic at QSR concepts. Fast-casual chains still benefit from a consumer perception that their food is healthier, higher quality, and even with the recent price hikes, is still deemed a value by diners.
David Portalatin, senior vice president and food and foodservice industry adviser for Circana, said that the largest, publicly traded fast-casual concepts were opening stores faster than they could lure new diners, putting pressure on their same-store sales figures and disappointing Wall Street investors. But, he says that the fast-casual chains were still taking market share.
“The reality is fast casual, as a segment, has maintained a pretty consistent gap on average eater check compared to traditional quick service restaurants,” Portalatin tells Fast Company.
Designing for delivery
Goop Kitchen CEO and cofounder Donald Moore tells Fast Company that the chain differentiates itself by generating almost half of its business in the evening, while fast-casual chains are typically far stronger at lunch. Average checks are about $47, and there’s very little menu modification allowed.
“There’s no option to pick a salad, add chicken, and add dressing,” Moore says. Goop Kitchen’s $16 Italian salad features one of 40 different salamis that were tested. “We studied what’s important to Gwyn, important to me and our chefs, and then tried to make something that’s elevated,” he says. “On the food, the menu, the aesthetics, the picking the handle on one of our bags, to the fonts we use—she’s in it.”
Moore is also a partner at DFG Ventures, which operates Goop Kitchen along with other brands including Cravings by Chrissy Teigen, Nice Day Chinese, and the Sausage Project. He says the research and packaging design efforts in California will prepare the chain for all of New York’s delivery challenges, where boxes are jostled as bike messengers weave through crowded city streets.
Goop Kitchen developed custom packaging that has built-in compartments for dressing and sauces. Salads are stored in larger containers to make it easier for customers to mix at home. Goop Kitchen tests items for up to 45 minutes to simulate real delivery conditions, ensuring the food maintains the proper structure and temperature.
The Goop factor
Prior to launching Goop Kitchen, Paltrow had established both credibility and controversy in the food space. The Iron Man and Shakespeare in Love actress has published several health-focused books, like The Clean Plate: Eat, Reset, Heal and My Father’s Daughter: Delicious, Easy Recipes Celebrating Family & Togetherness.
There has also been a public evolution in Paltrow’s approach to what it means to eat healthy foods, including ditching a yearslong commitment to the Paleo diet, which she acknowledged was too restrictive. Paltrow went viral on TikTok in 2023 when listing what she ate in a day; critics were quick to say Paltrow focused far too much of her diet on bone broth and vegetables.
“People want agency in their own health and wellness and the quickest way to feel better is to eat good, clean food,” says Paltrow, adding that she’s experienced trial and error throughout her personal two-decade wellness journey.
The broader Goop brand has faced setbacks over the years, including layoffs and a restructuring in 2024 to focus on three core areas: fashion, beauty, and food. Goop’s budget beauty line and Target partnership were pulled off shelves in 2025, and a standalone London boutique was closed in 2021 after three years of operation.
This all shows that Goop Kitchen can only leverage Paltrow’s brand halo to a limited extent. “The reality is the American consumer eats out at a restaurant, on average, above five times a week,” says Portalatin. “And we usually decide where we’re going to eat based on: is the food good? Do I get a good experience?”
