Ratatouille, Rao’s, and the Rise of Restaurant CPG
I watched Ratatouille with my sick toddler this weekend and much to my surprise, couldn't stop thinking about CPG 👨🍳 🐭 🥘
He's been sick all week and a movie is the only way to get this kid to slow down. This was only his second, so I picked carefully.
If you're like me and haven't watched it in a while, here's a quick refresher:
Remy is a rat with a gift for taste and smell, and his idol is the late Chef Gusteau, whose famous Parisian restaurant once held 5 stars. After a brutal review from critic Anton Ego cost the restaurant a star, Gusteau died of a broken heart, dropping it to 3. His sous chef Skinner inherited the place and immediately set about exploiting Gusteau's name and likeness to sell a line of frozen burritos, pizzas, and other cheap packaged foods. Full on CPG. The movie treats it as the ultimate betrayal of craft.
Funny how things have changed...
Today, some of the most respected restaurants and chefs in the world aren't just making food for the dining room. They're building CPG brands. And doing it really well.
Rao's started as a tiny, impossible-to-get-into restaurant in East Harlem. Now it's a CPG powerhouse. The Campbell's Company acquired the parent company Sovos Brands for $2.7 billion. That's billion with a B. For pasta sauce.
Carbone went from being one of the hardest reservations in New York to selling over 2 million jars of sauce across 10,000+ grocery stores nationwide. You can grab a jar at Whole Foods Market or Walmart.
Momofuku built an entire grocery brand around chili crunch, seasoned salts, soy sauce, and noodles. David Chang took what he perfected in his restaurants and turned it into a pantry staple.
Christina Tosi took Milk Bar from a tiny East Village bakery to 10,000+ retail locations. Her cookies and ice cream now sit on shelves at Whole Foods, Target, and Kroger. What started as a cult dessert spot became a legit CPG brand.
The list keeps growing. And the line between restaurant and retail has never been blurrier.
What Skinner got wrong wasn't the idea of turning a restaurant into a brand. It was the intent behind it. He wanted to exploit a name.
Chefs and founders today are extending an experience. They spent years, sometimes decades, building something people love in person. And now they're finding ways to bring a piece of that into people's homes.
That's not selling out. That's building for longevity.
The best restaurant-to-CPG brands aren't cashing in on a logo. They're scaling taste. And to me, it's one of the most exciting things happening in our industry right now.
