Miami-born fast-casual concept Carrot opens its seventh New York City location on November 17, planting a second flag in Midtown Manhattan at 1290 Avenue of the Americas. The move extends a growth run that began in 2022 and now spans Flatiron, Bryant Park, Brookfield Place, Nolita, the Upper West Side, and two Midtown addresses — alongside nearly 40 units across South Florida.
The New Unit
The 2,340-square-foot space seats 58 and was designed by Mico Design Studio, the firm behind the brand's broader aesthetic refresh. The room blends what the company describes as earthy elegance with modern comfort and will operate from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., supporting dine-in, takeout, delivery, and catering. That all-day window is a deliberate competitive play: the location is positioned as a neighborhood anchor for morning coffee, midday fuel, and dinner pickup in one of Manhattan's highest-traffic corridors.
Menu & Market Fit
Carrot's menu covers the full spectrum of contemporary wellness dining — salads, bowls, wraps, veggie burgers, cold-pressed juices, soups, baked goods, and protein smoothies — alongside an expanded all-day breakfast offering. A new feature at launch is Protein-Packed Sweet Potatoes, available in combinations such as Salmon Lemon Tahini, Chicken & Broccoli Melt, and Turkey Avocado Fresco. The lineup accommodates vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, and high-protein dietary preferences, a breadth that positions the brand squarely in the growing better-for-you fast-casual segment.
The expansion also reflects the brand's recent identity evolution: founded in 1993 inside a Miami Beach gas station as Carrot Express, the company has rebranded to simply Carrot to signal a more approachable take on wellness eating. Co-founder Mario Laufer framed the new Midtown unit as an extension of that positioning. "Whether guests are stopping in for their morning coffee, fueling up with a protein-rich lunch or picking up dinner, our goal is to make eating well convenient and delicious without compromising on quality," he said.
For operators watching the fast-casual health segment, Carrot's New York trajectory — seven Manhattan locations in roughly four years — illustrates sustained consumer appetite for nutrient-dense menus that don't sacrifice convenience or daypart flexibility. The brand's ability to anchor high-rent Midtown real estate with an all-day model covering breakfast through dinner and catering offers a template worth tracking as the wellness-dining category continues to mature. Coverage of similar emerging concepts appears regularly in Food & Beverage Magazine, RHFNews's sister publication focused on the broader food and beverage industry.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
