California Pizza Kitchen's first fresh retail products — a premium collection of salad kits and single-serve salads — will launch nationwide in 2027, with broader distribution and additional products planned as the partnership with FiveStar Gourmet Foods grows.

FiveStar, North America's largest producer of fresh single-serve foods and creator of the Simply Fresh brand, will manufacture the products, which will carry the CPK brand alongside a "Crafted by Simply Fresh" designation. The two companies describe the deal as a platform rather than a single product line: they plan to explore refrigerated prepared foods, dressings and other categories over time.

The move pushes CPK, the brand known for popularizing California-style pizza, deeper into grocery at a moment when its restaurant business is already extending well beyond dining rooms.

What does this change for CPK's retail strategy?

The salad deal is the third leg of an expansion that CPK and its ownership group, Consortium Brand Partners, laid out this year.

• Fresh refrigerated: salad kits and single-serve salads arriving in 2027, produced and distributed by FiveStar.
• Frozen: a previously announced plan to expand frozen offerings beyond signature pizzas into appetizers and entrees drawn from the restaurant menu.
• Automated retail: up to 1,000 self-service kiosks nationwide over the next three years, placed in airports, universities, hospitals and other high-traffic locations.

Together, the three channels put the CPK name in front of consumers in venues where a full-service restaurant cannot operate.

Menu translation, not licensing

The product development approach matters for quality control. Paul Pszybylski, Executive Chef and Vice President of Culinary Innovation at California Pizza Kitchen, said the team started with salads guests already order and adapted them for the fresh aisle.

"We started with the salads our guests already love and worked with FiveStar to translate them for the fresh aisle," Pszybylski said. "The goal is simple: when you open one at home, it should taste like something you'd order at our table."

Michael Beacham, President of California Pizza Kitchen Global, framed the retail line as a natural extension of the brand's core menu. "Salads have been a cornerstone of CPK since the beginning, from our BBQ Chicken Chopped to our Thai Crunch," Beacham said. "Bringing that creativity, bold flavor and California approach to the fresh aisle is a natural next step."

Why FiveStar won the deal

Cory M. Baker, Founder and Managing Partner of Consortium Brand Partners, said the choice of manufacturing partner turned on capability as much as capacity. FiveStar brings nearly three decades of fresh-food expertise, national manufacturing and large-scale retail execution.

"FiveStar stood out for reasons that went well beyond manufacturing," Baker said. "Tal has built an organization with the infrastructure of a major national prepared foods company while retaining the speed, creativity, and entrepreneurial mindset that built the business."

Tal Shoshan, Founder and CEO of FiveStar Gourmet Foods, positioned the line as a response to a stale refrigerated category. "This category doesn't need another ordinary salad," Shoshan said. "Retailers need products that give consumers a reason to come back with excitement and confidence."

The shelf battle

For grocers, the pitch is differentiation in a refrigerated set crowded with private-label and commodity kits. For CPK, the economics of licensed fresh foods add a revenue stream that carries no restaurant labor or occupancy cost, while FiveStar absorbs production and distribution.

The 2027 launch date gives FiveStar time to scale manufacturing and secure placement with national retailers before the first kits reach shelves, with the partnership's scope widening if the salads perform.