It has only been about four months since Chipotle founder and former CEO Steve Ells debuted the new co-botic concept Kernel in New York City. But the restaurant has already evolved.
Kernel 2.0, as it has been dubbed, now includes chairs. And tables in a warmer front-of-house setting. The tight menu has expanded, and so have operating hours to include the dinner daypart. In addition, guests can now order Kernel for delivery through GrubHub/Seamless. And they can also schedule their orders for pickup at specific times through the Kernel app or website.
Perhaps the biggest change, however, is that the initially plant-based concept now includes among its ingredients real chicken, dairy and eggs.
The launch with a plant-based menu was fundamentally a way to keep things simple. But then, as Kernel got its sea legs, the culinary team began introducing menu items like an eggplant parmesan sandwich and, just this week, a fried chicken sandwich, said Tom Cortese, who stepped into the chief operating officer role for the concept in June after “loosely advising” the brand for a few months.
Such tweaks are typical of startups, he said. And Cortese knows a thing or two about launching new brands.
He co-founded the Peloton brand and was a COO and chief product officer for more than 12 years at the fitness company before stepping down last September. But at startups like Peloton, founders are typically able to build and rework their brand in the early years in relative obscurity “because nobody knows you exist or nobody cares because you’re too small,” he said.
Things are a bit different at Kernel, where there has been “a giant spotlight” on the tiny outlet because of Ells’ status as an industry icon, said Cortese. Ells raised $36 million in funding before opening in February.
And Kernel is being closely watched as a potential industry disruptor.
The concept is a “marriage between culinary and technical arts” in ways that haven’t been seen before, said Cortese.
Kernel, for example, will be built with a hub-and-spoke model. Tiny 800-square-foot outlets will be served by a central commissary, where menu items will be prepared from scratch and dispatched to restaurants via electric bike.
In the restaurants, as few as three humans are needed to “dance” with robotic arms and ovens fed by conveyor belts to finish and build the final meals. It’s designed to offer fresh, healthful food at low cost with a low labor model.
Consumers pick up their orders from cubbies in the restaurants. Initially, the plan was for Kernel to be all off premise, but consumers wanted a place to sit and dine, and watch the co-botic performance. So Kernel now has seating for fewer than 20—any more than that would require the addition of a public restroom.
In fact, much of the 2.0 evolution so far is the result of feedback from both guests and workers, said Cortese, who added that Kernel is evolving with a “Yes, Chef” culture.
For example, the addition of meat was the idea of the culinary team, which includes former Eleven Madison Park chef Andrew Black as chief culinary officer and Quince alum Neil Stetz as culinary director.
Cortese said the team wanted Kernel to demonstrate that fast food could include delicious vegetable-based dishes. But they also wanted to “bring the maximum number of people in the door, which ultimately is best for our mission,” he said.
And that meant adding meat.
But, as Ells did at Chipotle, Kernel is sourcing organic, antibiotic-free chicken from a known and trusted supplier.
The chicken sandwich is buttermilk-brined and hand-breaded. The crispy patty is topped with a house-made chipotle mayo and slaw on a brioche bun (for about $9).
In addition, the menu will soon include a roasted chicken sandwich, Cortese said. That roasted chicken will also be an option as the protein for new salads on the menu: a Chopped Salad, and a Kale Caesar (which currently can be topped with crispy tofu).
Coming off the menu, however, is the plant-based chicken sandwich, which Cortese said was a top seller. But the engineered faux-chicken patty didn’t fit with the brand’s mission of offering whole food from fresh ingredients that anyone could cook in their own kitchens.
“It just didn’t feel right for the type of food we wanted to put out in the world,” Cortese said.
The popular Kernel burger—a house-made veggie patty made with quinoa, sweet potato and lentils—is still available. And now guests can get a cheese-topped version, with real dairy cheese, and its own build and special sauce.
Real dairy cheese is now on the menu at Kernel. | Photo courtesy of Noah Fecks.
But don’t go looking for a beef burger anytime soon, or bacon, for that matter. Cortese said Kernel is sticking with chicken as the meat option for now, as finding beef or pork that meets Ells’ low-climate-impact standards for the brand is tricky.
Kernel was initially only open for lunch on weekdays. Now hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Friday. After Labor Day, the location will be open seven days a week.
Also after Labor Day, the second location is scheduled to open in Manhattan near New York University. It will be served by the same central kitchen.
Before the end of the year, location number three is scheduled to open, also served by the same kitchen. Cortese said that third unit will be a little farther away—about a 20-minute electric bike ride from the central kitchen—which will further test the hub-and-spoke system.
The idea is to build efficiency into the brand’s DNA, but also consistency and quality.
Fundamentally, said Cortese, “We want to make sure consumers are loving the food we are producing.”
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