A Nationwide Pop-Up Was Organized by Primal Kitchen and Pinterest to Attract Gen Z consumers

Primal Kitchen and Pinterest partnered together to launch an experimental kitchen pop-up in New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago to connect with Gen Z food enthusiasts. 

Its pop-up kitchen, named The Colorful Kitchen is an experiential and digital collaboration between Primal Kitchen and Pinterest, showcasing top products and food trends. Guests were able to immerse themselves in a vibrant kitchen experience with various digital touchpoints, fostering exploration, loyalty, and community among Gen Z audiences.

By showcasing Primal Kitchen products, recipe inspiration, and trending home furnishings, Primal Kitchen hopes to drive traffic, awareness, and trials at its pop-up kitchen. A strong presence is maintained through ongoing media and organic content. Shoppable pins connect consumers to recipes and products through major retailers. The brands also invited influencers Carolina Gelen and Jeri Mobley to the pop-up event for content creation, though their involvement and the agreement between them were not disclosed.

According to Ana Goettsch, Primal Kitchen’s Head of Marketing, Carolina Gelen and Jeri Mobley were chosen for their unique appeal and relevance. Gelen, with a cookbook launching this year, was ideal for creating a curated menu featuring trending Pinterest recipes, like her high-protein summer salad, and her in-person appearance in NYC was a delightful surprise for her audience. Mobley’s simple recipes and vibrant use of fruits and veggies made her another perfect partner.

Both creators were selected to offer Gen Z consumers easy, delicious meals for a healthy lifestyle. The creators also published their own content from the event on their own social media channels.

“Pinterest and Primal Kitchen aimed to partner with creators that offer a unique, colorful, accessible approach to food and top trends to reach younger, Gen Z consumers as they enter the cooking landscape,” said Goettsch.

The brands advertised the event on Instagram to attract locals to the event. According to Sara Pollack, Global Head of Consumer Marketing at Pinterest, the platform is becoming increasingly popular among chefs and home cooks looking for inspiration. There have been 9,794% more searches for ‘clean food’ this year, followed by 187% more searches for ‘clean snacks’, respectively. Because of these trends, Primal Kitchen’s Colorful Kitchen Pop-Up is a perfect match for these trends.

“Primal Kitchen has incredible repeat purchase rates on our top selling items, so sampling and trial are a huge way to create a meaningful flavor experience that consumers will remember when having less than 3 seconds at shelf to make this purchase decision,” said Pollack. 

Primal Kitchen and Pinterest are not alone in their experimental campaigns aimed at engaging the Gen Z audience. Brands such as Liquid Death, Red Robin, and Shake Shack have also recently undertaken similar initiatives. Goettsch noted that Primal Kitchen enjoys exceptional repeat purchase rates for its top-selling items, making sampling and trial crucial for creating a memorable flavor experience. This is particularly important given that consumers typically have less than three seconds at the shelf to make a purchase decision.

“Building trust, loyalty and authenticity cannot be under-valued with younger consumers. Having an in-person experience allows Gen Z audiences to meet our team, engage with the brand in fun, meaningful ways and goes beyond digital relationships to build trust,” said Goettsch. “This is especially important in food – giving consumers the chance to come and learn about Primal Kitchen ingredient values and sample the flavors that they may want to explore is crucial.”