League City, Texas, Dec. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Muscle Maker, Inc. (Nasdaq: GRIL) the parent company of Muscle Maker Grill, Healthy Joe’s, Meal Plan AF & MMG Burger Bar, a fast-casual brand known for serving “healthier for you” meals, today announced it has officially opened its first partnership location with REEF Neighborhood Kitchens in NYC. The delivery-only kitchen will be located in Long Island City, New York City’s up-and-coming neighborhood just over the Queensboro bridge from Manhattan.
In August the company announced the REEF partnership with plans to open the first location in Union City, NJ. Union City will be our second location and will open early 2021. Our first REEF Neighborhood Kitchen will open in Long Island City and will operate on a delivery-only model, where customers can enjoy Muscle Maker Grill dishes packed with fresh veggies, all-natural chicken breast or grass-fed steak by placing their order through any one of the established third-party delivery platforms like DoorDash, GrubHub or UberEats, and have it brought right to their door via contactless delivery. The Long Island City neighborhood has seen explosive residential growth over the last few years, that combined with the continued trend of more and more people working from home, makes for a perfect location for the company’s first REEF location.
In response to the ongoing pandemic, restaurants have transformed the way they do business. MMG recognized this trend early on and has announced various types of ghost kitchen projects and shipped direct-to-consumers meal plan programs throughout the U.S. REEF’s proximity-based network to consumers across the country gives fast-casual restaurants the ability to build and scale very quickly. REEF recently completed a $700m capital raise with Mubadala and SoftBank, along with the company’s network of 4,500 parking locations makes for a strong partnership with MMG and brands.
“REEF’s Neighborhood Kitchens make perfect sense for Muscle Maker Grill as a part of its non-traditional location growth strategy,” said Michael Roper, Chief Executive Officer of Muscle Maker Grill. “Consumers and restaurant owners are increasingly embracing technological evolution and these delivery-only models continue to play an important role in the restaurant industry; as indicated by the exponential growth delivery has represented in the Quick Service Restaurant segment over the last year. This is a trend that we expect to continue, not only due to the current business climate and desire to social distance, but also as consumers grow comfortable with the breadth, quality and speed at which offerings are made available. Through REEF we believe we can scale quickly in major metropolitan markets with limited capital expenditure, which we expect to allow us to expand our nationwide brand awareness and serve up our delicious “healthier for you” options to guests.”
“We’re excited to officially bring Muscle Maker Grill’s fast-casual menu to New Yorkers,” said Carl Segal, Chief Operating Officer at REEF. “REEF’s ecosystem is intended to boost the reach of our restaurant partners with our network of neighborhood kitchens. In turn, this helps power their growth in important target markets.”
About Muscle Maker Grill
Founded in 1995 in Colonia, New Jersey, Muscle Maker Grill features high quality, great tasting food, freshly prepared with proprietary recipes. The menu, created with the guest’s health in mind, is lean and protein based. It features all-natural chicken, grass-fed steak, lean turkey, whole wheat pasta, wraps, bowls and more. It also offers a wide selection of fruit smoothies in a variety of assorted flavors, protein shakes and supplements. For more information on Muscle Maker Grill, visit www.musclemakergrill.com.
About REEF
REEF’s mission is to connect the world to your block. We transform underutilized urban spaces into neighborhood hubs that connect people to locally curated goods, services, and experiences. With an ecosystem of 4,500 locations and a team of 15,000 people, REEF is the largest operator of mobility, logistics hubs, and neighborhood kitchens in the United States. Together we are leveraging the power of proximity to keep our communities moving forward in a sustainable and thoughtful way.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may include “forward-looking statements” pursuant to the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. To the extent that the information presented in this press release discusses financial projections, information, or expectations about our business plans, results of operations, products or markets, or otherwise makes statements about future events, such statements are forward-looking. Such forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as “should”, “may,” “intends,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “projects,” “forecasts,” “expects,” “plans,” and “proposes.” Although we believe that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, there are a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements. You are urged to carefully review and consider any cautionary statements and other disclosures, including the statements made under the heading “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in documents that we file from time to time with the SEC. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of the document in which they are contained, and Muscle Maker, Inc does not undertake any duty to update any forward-looking statements except as may be required by law.
Contact:
Muscle Maker Grill Marketing
marketing@musclemakergrill.com
Investor Relations:
IR@musclemakergrill.com