Restaurant Roundup: Kroger Moves into Restaurant Space; Papa John’s Goes All in on China

Kroger, not content to rest on its laurels as the largest pure-play grocery retailer in the United States, is entering the quick service restaurant (QSR) space. After announcing a partnership with ghost kitchen solution Kitchen United back in August, the grocer announced Friday (Jan. 7) the opening of the first location created through this partnership.

The restaurant is opening at a Ralphs location in Los Angeles, California’s Westwood neighborhood, and consumers will be able to order pickup or delivery, mix and matching menu items from 10 restaurant brands spanning different cuisines and dietary restrictions.

With this announcement, Kroger is also adjusting how it speaks about its role in consumers’ lives to encompass, broadening its language to include a wider share of occasions.

“Our customers come to us to find the freshest food and to answer the all-important ‘what’s for dinner?’ question,” Kendra Doyel, vice president of merchandising at Ralphs, said in a statement. “This collaboration provides our customers one more simple meal solution that they can pair with Ralphs’ fresh products.”

Restaurant Employment Remains More Than 650,000 Below Pre-Pandemic Levels

Also Friday, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that there were 43,000 more jobs in food services and drinking places in December than there were in November, but the workforce remains 653,000 people short of what it was in February of 2020.

The fact that this industry, which includes 11.7 million workers, is only 5% smaller than what it was then is misleading, considering that, with the rise of digital ordering these workers need to fulfill higher demand than before the pandemic. Findings from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Monthly Retail Trade Survey show that sales at restaurants and other eating places in October, the most recent month on record, were 18% higher than they were in February of 2020.

Papa John’s Announces 1,350-Store South China Expansion

On Friday, major pizza chain Papa John’s, which has over 5,500 restaurants across 50 countries and territories, announced a development deal to open 1,350 new locations in South China by 2040. The deal comes in partnership with private equity firm FountainVest, which currently holds a majority stake in a franchisee that operates 160 restaurants in Shanghai and South China.

“Papa Johns has enormous global development whitespace in the US and in attractive growth markets, especially relative to our peers,” the pizza chain’s president and CEO Rob Lynch said in a statement. “Our new development agreement with FountainVest alone stands to grow Papa Johns current global unit count by 25%.”

The agreement is the largest in the pizza chain’s history and, per the news release, “the largest master franchise deal announced in the pizza industry in recent years.”

REEF Pushes Ahead with International Expansion, Despite Doubts from Regulators, Restaurateurs

In additional international expansion news, on Thursday (Jan. 6), major ghost kitchen operator REEF announced a partnership with Middle Eastern food and beverage organization Americana to open new locations across the Middle East and North Africa.

The news comes despite REEF coming under scrutiny in recent months for health and safety violations at many of its restaurants, including, most graphically, sewage spilling into the kitchens.

Related news: Ghost Kitchen Boom May Be Built on a Shaky Foundation, Reports Show

“To be clear, Reef understands the importance of permitting, and we want to be regulated,” a Reef spokesperson commented at the time. “As we’ve stated previously, in all cases, we hold ourselves to the highest standards of food handling and safety training in all our kitchens.”

In December, Insider reported that David Chang had pulled his Fuku brand from REEF’s kitchens following these reports.