In prehistoric times, before Amazon bought Whole Foods, a fledgling chain called Next Level Burger, NLB for short, was taking tentative steps toward a second date with the upscale grocery chain.
We reported on their mutual attraction four months ago, when NLB opened a burger bar inside a Whole Foods market in Seattle. The first NLB inside a Whole Foods was in suburban Lake Oswego, Ore.
Now a third date, and things are getting serious.
First, it's "out of town." Specifically, in Brooklyn's prosperous Fort Greene neighborhood.
Second, it's inside a spanking new Whole Foods 365 (opening at the end of January), the first 365 on the East Coast.
It's part of the 300 Ashland Place development, where neighbors will be an Apple store, a branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Even as the founders are understandably starry-eyed at the rapid expansion of their chain, which launched a California store in December, 2017 (with three more to come in the Bay Area), and now sees an opening in Noo Yawk City.
For Matt de Gruyter and his wife, Cierra, it's something they dreamed of when they opened their first shop in Bend, Ore., three years ago. "We can’t imagine a better place ... than Brooklyn,” de Gruyter said. "We couldn’t be more jazzed to see Next Level Burger become part of this exciting, diverse neighborhood that’s as down-to-earth as it is cool.”
De Gruyter, an ex-Marine, had gone into the private equity side of oil & gas exploration before shifting to a brokerage house in southern California.
As he tells the story, Matt returned from a business trip and decided to change his life. He and Cierra mapped out a plan to open a vegetarian restaurant in Oregon, where she grew up. Then they went to work creating vegan recipes.
It was the right time to get into the meatless burger market. The major rival is Impossible Burger, part of Impossible Foods, which supplies scores of restaurants around the country but does not operate freestanding units. Privately held Impossible has raised a couple hundred million from investors as diverse as Google Ventures and Bill Gates, fueled, one must assume, in the increased interest in plant-based foods.
Whole Foods is still adapting to its new corporate ownership, and (on Amazon's home turf at any rate) seems to be drawing back from the 365 concept. It is in a dispute with its landlord, Simon Property Group over its 365 store in Bellevue, Wash. A local judge has ordered Whole Foods to reopen the shuttered store.
In theory, the smaller 365 stores, launched 20 years ago, sell mainly the Whole Foods house brands. Generally there's no fish or meat counter, and no buffets. But the California store does include an NLB bar as well as a juice shop called Urban Remedy.
For all that, only a dozen 365 stores are currently open.
