On North Avenue, the first Lululemon restaurant
Yoga pants vendor brings smoothies, acai bowls, burgers and beer to new Lincoln Park store
BY ASHOK SELVAM
Lululemon, the athletic apparel company known for its yoga gear, is entering the world of food and beverage. The company’s first restaurant, Fuel, opened last week on the second floor of a massive new flagship store in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. Customers will find healthy (acai bowls, smoothies, salads, protein boxes), beefy (an 8-ounce burger), and boozy (draft beers from Chicago’s Marz Community Brewing) options on the menu.
Not only does the store, at the corner of Sheffield and North avenues, contain a restaurant, but there also are two fitness studios. They’ll offer 40 to 50 classes a week.
The opening of Fuel can be looped in with the emerging trend of retailers attempting to attract more customers to their stores as more and more sales continue to happen online. For example, another retailer with a national reputation, Crate and Barrel, just opened its first full-service restaurant. Table for Crate opened inside Oakbrook Center, taking over a vacant Land of Nod,
Crate and Barrel’s children furniture store.
Lululemon, founded in 1998, spent two years tweaking the counter-service restaurant and the surrounding 20,000-squarefoot space to ensure it matched the brand’s values. Folks unfamiliar with the apparel have at least seen those popular red and white bags on trains and buses.
“We know that food fuels you, but good food fuels you emotionally, too,” said Maureen Erickson, Lululemon’s vice president of experiential retail.
She pivoted when asked if the restaurant was a response to the challenges of operating a store in an era of Internet sales:
“Building community through connection has always been at the heart of Lululemon — both online and offline, and Lincoln Park is the physical manifestation of the heart and soul of Lululemon,” Erickson said.
Chicago is a strong market and was one of the handful of cities the chain first expanded into. A restaurant also helps grow the brand and fulfill its full potential, Erickson said.
“What we know is our guests want everything under one roof,” she added.
Vancouver-based Lululemon is pouring its resources into this Chicago store, as earlier this summer it closed a smaller store located about a mile away. Normal Lululemon stores recruit four to eight “brand ambassadors” who wear the gear and form a sort of street marketing team. This store has 45. Ambassadors were surveyed and asked what they wanted out of a restaurant and the result is Fuel.
The restaurant features an island in the center with bar seating. There are two coolers full of grab-and-go drinks and food for customers in a rush. There’s an espresso machine with beans from West Town’s Dark Matter Coffee. The dining tables sit in front of two fitness studios. Sweaty customers can grab food immediately after classes. They’ll sit on seats and couches in a space called the “connection room.”
The sunlight on the second floor is bright, very good for Instagram photos.
Executive chef Paul Larson knows the Midwest presents a challenge. This concept would be right at home in California’s sunshine, but Chicago is home to polar vortices and the like. Also, of note: fad diets come and go. One day a customer is into keto, the next month it’s paleo or whole 30. Larson said flexibility is built in to change the menu to accommodate trends.
“Trends change and we want to make sure we always stay on trend with what they need,” Erickson adds.
A menu with burgers (beef, black bean, and Beyond Burger) and beer will surprise some visitors, given Lululemon’s reputation as an active lifestyle brand where customers hold on to wellness goals. But Erickson said it just shows how the company and its fans don’t take themselves seriously.
“It’s also for people like me who like to work out so I can eat a good cheeseburger,” she said.