Muscle Maker, Inc., the parent company of Muscle Maker Grill, Healthy Joe’s, Meal Plan AF & MMG Burger Bar, a fast-casual brand known for serving “healthier for you” meals, today announced it has officially opened its first partnership location with REEF Neighborhood Kitchens in NYC. The delivery-only kitchen will be located in Long Island City, New York City’s up-and-coming neighborhood just over the Queensboro bridge from Manhattan.
In August the company announced the REEF partnership with plans to open the first location in Union City, NJ. Union City will be our second location and will open early 2021. Our first REEF Neighborhood Kitchen will open in Long Island City and will operate on a delivery-only model, where customers can enjoy Muscle Maker Grill dishes packed with fresh veggies, all-natural chicken breast or grass-fed steak by placing their order through any one of the established third-party delivery platforms like DoorDash, GrubHub or UberEats, and have it brought right to their door via contactless delivery. The Long Island City neighborhood has seen explosive residential growth over the last few years, that combined with the continued trend of more and more people working from home, makes for a perfect location for the company’s first REEF location.
In response to the ongoing pandemic, restaurants have transformed the way they do business. MMG recognized this trend early on and has announced various types of ghost kitchen projects and shipped direct-to-consumers meal plan programs throughout the U.S. REEF’s proximity-based network to consumers across the country gives fast-casual restaurants the ability to build and scale very quickly. REEF recently completed a $700m capital raise with Mubadala and SoftBank, along with the company’s network of 4,500 parking locations makes for a strong partnership with MMG and brands.
“REEF’s Neighborhood Kitchens make perfect sense for Muscle Maker Grill as a part of its non-traditional location growth strategy,” says Michael Roper, Chief Executive Officer of Muscle Maker Grill. “Consumers and restaurant owners are increasingly embracing technological evolution and these delivery-only models continue to play an important role in the restaurant industry; as indicated by the exponential growth delivery has represented in the Quick Service Restaurant segment over the last year. This is a trend that we expect to continue, not only due to the current business climate and desire to social distance, but also as consumers grow comfortable with the breadth, quality and speed at which offerings are made available. Through REEF we believe we can scale quickly in major metropolitan markets with limited capital expenditure, which we expect to allow us to expand our nationwide brand awareness and serve up our delicious “healthier for you” options to guests.”
“We’re excited to officially bring Muscle Maker Grill’s fast-casual menu to New Yorkers,” says Carl Segal, Chief Operating Officer at REEF. “REEF’s ecosystem is intended to boost the reach of our restaurant partners with our network of neighborhood kitchens. In turn, this helps power their growth in important target markets.”
