Three new grab-and-go food tenants are heading to the Central Kitchen in Midtown, home to Cleveland Kraut, Cleveland Bagel and Souper Market. Mulberry’s Pizza will open its third location, joining spots in the Flats and Avon Lake. Cleveland Sandwich Co., which also has a spot downtown, will offer chef-driven sandwiches. And Vegan Vybez will sell vegan meals inspired by Panamanian flavors. Credit: Central Kitchen

Three new retail food tenants are heading to the Central Kitchen in Midtown, which is a huge relief to chief executive officer Eric Diamond.

“We had the spaces all leased before the pandemic and then everyone backed out,” he says. “Then we had them all leased again during the pandemic, but everyone backed out.”

Home to popular brands like Cleveland Kraut, Cleveland Bagel and Souper Market, the 138,000-square-foot warehouse in Midtown is a multi-purpose property with rentable kitchens for the specialty food businesses, a co-packing facility to get those products to market, and incubator programs to help get the next big thig off the ground.

Mulberry’s Pizza will open its third location, joining spots in the Flats and Avon Lake. The spin-off will sell pizza by the slice, salads and wings. Cleveland Sandwich Co., which also has a spot downtown, will offer an array of chef-driven sandwiches. Vegan Vybez, offering vegan meals inspired by Panamanian flavors, will also join the mix.

The three 1,000-square-foot storefronts all front Carnegie. All of these new concepts will be grab-and-go and there will be synergies with existing businesses like Cleveland Bagel, Cleveland Kraut and Souper Market.

“It will be nice to have more local options here in Midtown,” says Diamond.

All three business are expected to open in two to three months.

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This article appears in Oct 19 – Nov 1, 2022.

For 25 years, Douglas Trattner has worked as a full-time freelance writer, editor and author. His work as co-author on Michael Symon's cookbooks have earned him four New York Times Best-Selling Author honors, while his longstanding role as Scene dining editor has garnered awards of its own.