Eat Happy Kitchen Expands Into New York City and Midwest Grocery Markets

All 27 D'Agostino and Gristedes locations across New York City added Eat Happy Kitchen's Seed Oil Free Certified pasta sauces to their shelves, marking the Santa Ynez, California-based brand's first foothold in one of the country's most competitive grocery markets.

The same announcement confirmed that Eat Happy Kitchen's full line of spice blends, packaged in newly redesigned vintage-style tins, is now available at all 70 Fresh Thyme Market Midwest locations, joining its pasta sauces already carried by the retailer. Coborn's also introduced the brand's pasta sauces across 27 Midwest retail locations.

"Eat Happy Kitchen was built on the idea that food should be both clean and taste good, and that you don't have to sacrifice either quality to be on grocery store shelves," said Anna Vocino, Founder and CEO. "Breaking into the Manhattan market with our retail partners at D'Agostino and Gristedes, and in the Midwest with our new partners at Coborn's, isn't just a milestone for our brand; it's proof that joy, flavor, and real ingredients resonate everywhere, coast to coast."

The NYC and Midwest push caps a stretch of rapid national expansion that started from a much smaller base. The brand's retail journey began across 250 Pavilion's, Gelson's and Central Market stores at the start of 2024 and has since surpassed 850 retail stores. The growth accelerated sharply after Vocino attended the 2024 Natural Products Expo West, where a brief conversation with Kroger's team set off months of follow-up. She sent samples and her cookbooks to Kroger's buyers to highlight the brand's origin and mission; by October 2024, Eat Happy Kitchen had confirmation it would be added to six Kroger banners.

The brand ultimately added 479 new Kroger stores, nearly doubling its presence across the grocer's family of banners, including Fred Meyer, Ralphs, King Soopers, QFC, Smith's and Fry's. Vocino's reaction to that outcome was candid: "I was shocked. I didn't do a presentation — a formal presentation — so I was shocked. And how it was framed to me is that they were looking for better-for-you options on their mainline sets."

Nosh reports the brand doubled pasta sauce distribution in 2024, with sauces stocked in over 1,100 stores including Kroger banners Ralphs, Fred Meyer, and QFC. The December 2025 round added 28 Gelson's Markets locations in California and 18 Harmons Neighborhood Grocer stores in Utah before the March 2026 NYC launch.

Vocino attributes the brand's broader momentum to its partnership with distributor KeHE, which began several years ago. Her owned audience has played an equally direct role: Vocino pairs her spices with recipes to build a fan base around clean eating, and that community extended into financing: a successful equity crowdfunding campaign raised more than $675,000 from fans and early customers who became investors.

Eat Happy Kitchen's sauce lineup spans marinara, arrabbiata, pink crema and puttanesca, all carrying the Seed Oil Free Certified designation that the brand has made central to its retail pitch. With the Fresh Thyme spice tin rollout adding a second product category to a retailer that was already stocking the sauces, the brand is beginning to look less like a single-SKU pasta sauce play and more like a full pantry brand with the shelf space to match.