Sponsored By

By Chloe partners with Whole Foods for LA expansionBy Chloe partners with Whole Foods for LA expansion

New York City-based vegan restaurant to open inside first 365 by Whole Foods Market store

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

March 10, 2016

2 Min Read
Nation's Restaurant News logo in a gray background | Nation's Restaurant News

By Chloe, the New York City-based fast-casual vegan restaurant, will open a Los Angeles location inside the first 365 by Whole Foods Market, By Chloe’s parent company said Thursday. 

ESquared Hospitality, which owns BLT Steak and 10 other restaurants, including By Chloe, said the supermarket, a less expensive sister to Whole Foods Market, would open in late May in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Silver Lake. By Chloe, which has been named the first partner in Whole Foods’ “Friends of 365” in-store program, would have its own space within the supermarket, ESquared said. 

The restaurant will feature signature By Chloe menu items, including its Guac Burger, Quinoa Taco Salad, Mac n Cheese (made with a sweet potato and cashew sauce), Air-Baked Fries and desserts, along with market specials based on local, seasonal produce.

“As we countdown the days to the first 365 by Whole Foods Market grand opening, I’m thrilled to unveil our first Friends of 365 partner, By Chloe., in Silver Lake,” 365 president Jeff Turnas said in a press release. “By Chloe. truly embodies what we look for in partners — innovative businesses that align with our core values and introduce our customers to new food products and up and coming brands.”

By Chloe partner Samantha Wasser said: “We’re truly excited for the opportunity to announce our brand expansion outside of NYC and to bring the By Chloe brand to the West Coast by partnering with 365 by Whole Foods Market. To be the inaugural Friend of 365 in this venture is such an incredible honor and we’re looking forward to connecting with their like-minded customers.”

The restaurant was founded by cookbook author Chloe Coscarelli, winner of the Food Network’s “Cupcake Wars,” a lifelong vegetarian who has been vegan for the past 10 years. She is a native of Los Angeles.

“It’s thrilling to be able to bring By Chloe back home,” Coscarelli said in the press release. “Whole Foods Market embodies so many of By Chloe’s beliefs and interests, so to work alongside them to introduce 365 shoppers to the By Chloe menu is a dream come true. I hope LA is hungry!” 

By Chloe was named a Breakout Brand by Nation’s Restaurant News in February, and is expected to open two more locations this year.

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected].
Follow him on Twitter: @foodwriterdiary

About the Author

Bret Thorn

Senior Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News

Senior Food & Beverage Editor

Bret Thorn is senior food & beverage editor for Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality for Informa’s Restaurants and Food Group, with responsibility for spotting and reporting on food and beverage trends across the country for both publications as well as guiding overall F&B coverage. 

He is the host of a podcast, In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn, which features interviews with chefs, food & beverage authorities and other experts in foodservice operations.

From 2005 to 2008 he also wrote the Kitchen Dish column for The New York Sun, covering restaurant openings and chefs’ career moves in New York City.

He joined Nation’s Restaurant News in 1999 after spending about five years in Thailand, where he wrote articles about business, banking and finance as well as restaurant reviews and food columns for Manager magazine and Asia Times newspaper. He joined Restaurant Hospitality’s staff in 2016 while retaining his position at NRN. 

A magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with a bachelor’s degree in history, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Thorn also studied traditional French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. He spent his junior year of college in China, studying Chinese language, history and culture for a semester each at Nanjing University and Beijing University. While in Beijing, he also worked for ABC News during the protests and ultimate crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Thorn’s monthly column in Nation’s Restaurant News won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for best staff-written editorial or opinion column.

He served as president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council, or IFEC, in 2005.

Thorn wrote the entry on comfort food in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, 2nd edition, published in 2012. He also wrote a history of plated desserts for the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, published in 2015.

He was inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014.

A Colorado native originally from Denver, Thorn lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Bret Thorn’s areas of expertise include food and beverage trends in restaurants, French cuisine, the cuisines of Asia in general and Thailand in particular, restaurant operations and service trends. 

Bret Thorn’s Experience: 

Nation’s Restaurant News, food & beverage editor, 1999-Present
New York Sun, columnist, 2005-2008 
Asia Times, sub editor, 1995-1997
Manager magazine, senior editor and restaurant critic, 1992-1997
ABC News, runner, May-July, 1989

Education:
Tufts University, BA in history, 1990
Peking University, studied Chinese language, spring, 1989
Nanjing University, studied Chinese language and culture, fall, 1988 
Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine, Cértificat Elémentaire, 1986

Email: [email protected]

Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bret-thorn-468b663/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bret.thorn.52
Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
Instagram: @foodwriterdiary

Subscribe Nation's Restaurant News Newsletters
Get the latest breaking news in the industry, analysis, research, recipes, consumer trends, the latest products and more.