The Rise of the Chef-Owned Shop

10 Minute read

23 Sep 2026

Giada De Laurentiis with Giadzy Pasta. Credit: Giadzy

From rare Japanese ceramics to taco oil and pasta, chefs are extending their taste beyond the dining room and into retail.

Modern hospitality increasingly extends beyond what’s on the plate. Think about a recent reservation where every detail was considered, from custom ceramics and curated playlists to a parting gift. It makes sense, then, that chefs are bringing the same curatorial eye to their own stores. Whether they take the form of physical boutiques or carefully stocked e-commerce platforms, these shops allow restaurants to engage guests beyond the dining room.

“Restaurants are so much more than their nightly service,” says chef Flynn McGarry, who opened his brick-and-mortar shop Gem Home in New York City in late 2024. “I wanted a space to allow people to experience the curatorial efforts of a restaurant and then bring their favorites into their own home.”

Retail offers chefs another way to reach new customers and deepen their relationships with existing ones. It can also diversify a business traditionally centered on restaurant service.

Odo at Home

In November 2025, chef Hiroki Odo, whose namesake Manhattan restaurant holds two Michelin stars, launched Odo at Home. The online boutique brings the restaurant’s focus on food, vessels, space, and seasonality into daily life. Organized around those four elements, its handpicked collection includes antique Japanese ceramics, fine teas, incense, and other items made or sourced in limited quantities.

“The focus is on the context in which each item exists, not on volume,” explains Odo. Many of the objects are used in the restaurant or sourced from makers with whom he has a direct relationship. One example is an Edo-period Imari small plate in the akae kinrande style, embellished with gold and symbols of bamboo, plum, pine, and other auspicious treasures. Odo acquired the piece through years of personal collecting and relationships with trusted connoisseurs. “Using such a piece on a contemporary table creates a convergence of past, present, and season,” he says.

There’s also Yakusugi cedar incense, made from upcycled sawdust from millennium-old Yakusugi cedars on Yakushima Island. “The scent is gentle and layered, and it is used in the Odo dining space to introduce a subtle shift in atmosphere.”

Odo at Home represents both the culture of Japanese hospitality and Odo’s personal philosophy. Omotenashi, or Japanese hospitality, “is a culture of attentiveness that shapes experience according to the guest, the season, and the context,” he says. That sensibility is “foundational” to the experience at Odo. The online shop offers a more personal interpretation, bringing food, vessels, space, and season into contemporary life. “It reflects a commitment not only to preserving tradition but to carrying it forward into new forms.”

Bird & Co.

In April 2026, Wills Dowd and Jared Dinsmore launched Bird & Co. Taco Oil, marking the first retail expansion of their Portland, Maine, restaurant, which opened in 2019.

The infused cooking oil, made with a 100 percent avocado oil base, reflects the “core identity” of Bird & Co. “Our goal, like it is at the restaurant, is to elevate your taco night, with tacos worthy of that hype,” says Dowd. Its high smoke point makes it suitable for everything from frying tortillas to sautéing vegetables, while its plant-based base makes it accessible to vegetarian cooks.

Dowd and Dinsmore launched the product independently as the quickest way to bring it to the public. They also saw an opportunity in the growing enthusiasm for cooking at home. “The rise of the home cook has created openings in this market for quality products that bring a restaurant-style quality into the kitchen,” they say.

Dowd and Dinsmore currently sell two infused taco oils: Roja, made with chipotle, chili, and garlic, and Verde, which combines cilantro, garlic, and jalapeño. They say they plan to release an unflavored avocado oil called Claro, followed by other versatile products designed to bring home cooks closer to “the perfect taco night.”

Gem Home

Design and travel are among chef Flynn McGarry’s interests outside the kitchen. He opened Gem Home as a place to showcase the contemporary objects and vintage finds he discovers along the way.

McGarry developed the New York City storefront during a break from running a restaurant full time, allowing him to focus entirely on its curation. Because “the experience was so focused on design and taste,” he explains, e-commerce wasn’t an option.

At first, Gem Home’s biggest seller was a ceramic soap dispenser designed in collaboration with former fashion designer Shane Gabier. “I wanted a soap dispenser that couldn’t be stolen at the restaurant and it ended up becoming our number one seller,” says McGarry. As the collection has grown, Gem Home has added culinary products and other homewares used at Cove, McGarry’s Houston Street restaurant.

These include Inez olive oil, produced in California by the family of one of McGarry’s close friends. “It’s all we’ve used for years at the restaurant,” he says. According to McGarry, Gem Home is also the only shop in New York City to sell a particular minimalist David Mellor cutlery set. The collection includes an exclusive line of linens that McGarry designed with Dutch atelier Autumn Sonata, which are also used at Cove. “It's a great thing to be able to experience and then take home.”

Cúrate at Home

In 2021, amid the challenges of the pandemic, chef Katie Button of Asheville’s Cúrate Bar de Tapas sought a way to connect with customers across the country. “Even when we could reopen, travel was still limited,” recalls Button. “People wanted to stay connected to us, to the memories they had at the restaurant.” The online store Cúrate at Home offered a way to extend that experience beyond the restaurant’s four walls.

Initially, Button sold fresh and frozen prepared foods through the shop, including gazpacho by the quart, frozen croquetas, meal kits, olives, piquillo peppers, and other items already served at Cúrate. “Now, it’s more about shelf-stable products and items that represent Spanish food culture and the producers we believe in,” says Button.

The selection includes a Spanish wine subscription, olive oil, and entertaining pieces. Among its more whimsical offerings have been little pig toothpick holders created by Asheville artist Lori Threlkeld. Originally produced in small batches for the restaurant, the pigs became “a recognizable symbol of Cúrate,” says Button. Threlkeld’s relationship with the brand grew as well, and she began creating ornaments for Cúrate. “It’s been amazing to see how something small can turn into something meaningful for both of us,” says Button.

For Button, “a connection to place, to producers, and to the culture behind the food is really at the heart of everything we offer.”

Giadzy

An early entrant in the chef-led retail space, Giada De Laurentiis launched Giadzy as a lifestyle and e-commerce platform in 2017, a “time when how people shopped and learned about food shifted,” she says. The website combined recipes and stories about Italian culture with products foundational to Italian cooking, including olive oil, tomatoes, and quality pasta.

In 2023, De Laurentiis introduced Giadzy’s first private-label products, a collection of eight organic pastas made in Italy. “For me, it’s incredibly personal,” she says. “My great grandparents sold pasta in Italy and my grandfather sold Italian ingredients in the U.S., so it feels like I’m continuing a legacy.”

De Laurentiis also wants Giadzy to connect home cooks with the small producers she has encountered during years of visiting farms and factories. She believes consumers are paying closer attention to what goes into their food and increasingly want products made without long lists of unfamiliar ingredients. Pasta was a natural entry point because “not all pasta is created equal, and I wanted to introduce more people to truly great pasta,” says De Laurentiis. She adds, “pasta is so beloved and integrated into our diets that it’s almost just as much an American staple as it is an Italian one.”

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About the author

Jillian Dara is a freelance writer and editor reporting on wine and spirits, travel and cuisine. She enjoys reporting on the intersection of them all for publications including...

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