Case Study: Core Kitchen refines menu and grows national retail distribution with Yelp

Core Kitchen - Customer Case Study

Core Kitchen, based in downtown Oakland, is the world’s first produce-only restaurant, serving entirely organic, gluten-free dishes without salt, sugar, flour or oil. The founders set out to prove that food made only from whole fruits and vegetables could be genuinely delicious, while building a business that reflects Oakland’s diversity and the Bay Area’s healthy-food ethos.

To meet that challenge they treated the restaurant as a working test kitchen, using customer feedback—especially Yelp reviews—to refine recipes and identify winners. The customer-driven approach turned popular menu items into branded products (CORE Meals, CORE Granola, CORE Tonics) that are now distributed nationally in retailers like Whole Foods, demonstrating strong market demand and growth beyond the restaurant.

Core Kitchen

Corey Rennell

Owner