California Pizza Kitchen and FiveStar Gourmet Foods Announce Strategic Partnership, Debuting Premium Salad Lines for Retail and Foodservice Channels

Restaurant icon partners with North America’s largest single-serve fresh meal producer to bring high-quality and bold flavors to grocery's refrigerated aisle

COSTA MESA, Calif. & LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--California Pizza Kitchen (CPK), the iconic restaurant brand that revolutionized pizza, in partnership with FiveStar Gourmet Foods, North America’s largest producer of fresh single-serve foods, today announced the launch of a premium collection of CPK-inspired salad kits and single-serve salads. The first CPK fresh retail products are expected to launch nationwide in 2027, with broader distribution and additional innovation planned as the partnership grows.

The collaboration taps CPK’s long-standing legacy of culinary innovation in pizzas, pastas, and salads along with FiveStar’s expertise in premium fresh food to upgrade grocery's refrigerated salads section, giving shoppers high-quality, exciting, and affordable options in fresh foods.

“Salads have been a cornerstone of CPK since the beginning, from our BBQ Chicken Chopped to our Thai Crunch,” said Michael Beacham, President of California Pizza Kitchen Global. “Bringing that creativity, bold flavor and California approach to the fresh aisle is a natural next step, and FiveStar Gourmet Foods is the right partner to help us deliver the quality our guests expect, wherever they find us.”

Restaurant Credibility Meets Retail Scale

FiveStar Gourmet Foods, creator of Simply Fresh, brings nearly three decades of fresh-food expertise, national manufacturing capabilities, and large-scale retail execution to the partnership.

“This category doesn’t need another ordinary salad,” said Tal Shoshan, Founder and CEO of FiveStar Gourmet Foods. “Retailers need products that give consumers a reason to come back with excitement and confidence. CPK brings something very different: a loved restaurant brand known for delicious, creative food.”

"We started with the salads our guests already love and worked with FiveStar to translate them for the fresh aisle," said Paul Pszybylski, Executive Chef and Vice President of Culinary Innovation at California Pizza Kitchen. "The goal is simple: when you open one at home, it should taste like something you'd order at our table."

The new CPK collection will feature restaurant-inspired recipes, elevated ingredients, and bold California flavors designed to differentiate at shelf and rebuild excitement in the fresh salad category. Products will be produced by FiveStar and feature the CPK brand alongside “Crafted by Simply Fresh.”

Beyond Salads: A Platform for Growth

While launching with salads, the partnership is designed for expansion. CPK and FiveStar plan to explore additional opportunities across refrigerated prepared foods, dressings and other categories as they build a broader retail platform together.

The strategy complements CPK’s plan announced earlier this year to expand its frozen offerings beyond signature pizzas and into appetizers and entrees inspired by its restaurant menu. The brand is also expanding into non-traditional channels through the deployment of up to 1,000 automated retail kiosks nationwide over the next three years, expanding the brand into airports, universities, hospitals and other high-traffic locations.

“When we began looking at the right strategic partner for CPK, FiveStar stood out for reasons that went well beyond manufacturing,” said Cory M. Baker, Founder and Managing Partner of Consortium Brand Partners. “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. That combination is rare, and it gives us tremendous confidence in what we can build together.”

For more information, visit www.cpk.com and follow @cpk on Instagram, @calpizzakitchen on TikTok or @calpizzakitchen on X.

About California Pizza Kitchen

Founded in 1985, California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) revolutionized casual dining with its first restaurant in Beverly Hills, California, introducing the world to innovative, California-inspired pizza at scale. Having recently celebrated its 40th anniversary year, CPK today is a beloved global brand, serving creative California cuisine in restaurants spanning 25 U.S. states along with nine countries and U.S. territories. Additionally, the CPK brand has been a premium leader in the U.S. frozen pizza grocery aisle for more than 25 years while also expanding into branded salad dressings and noodle sauces. Today, CPK continues to innovate and expand in casual dining, retail products and non-traditional food service channels, providing more access to its fresh, imaginative twist on familiar foods that consumers continue to crave.

About FiveStar Gourmet Foods / Simply Fresh

Founded in 1998, FiveStar Gourmet Foods is North America’s largest producer of fresh single-serve salads, meals, snacks and grab-and-go foods and the creator of Simply Fresh.

For nearly three decades, FiveStar has developed and manufactured premium fresh salads, bowls, snacks, protein-forward meals, entrées, sides, sauces, dressings and other innovative food solutions for leading retail, club and foodservice customers across the United States.

Simply Fresh is FiveStar’s disruptor brand, combining chef-driven innovation, elevated ingredients, contemporary design and exceptional value to redefine consumers’ expectations of convenient fresh food.

FiveStar’s national platform combines culinary innovation, advanced manufacturing and coast-to-coast execution with an uncompromising commitment to food safety and elevated quality standards. From initial concept through national-scale execution, FiveStar and Simply Fresh are helping shape the next generation of fresh prepared foods in America.