The Real Reason Erewhon Is a Cult Brand

The rumors are true: Everyone who shops at Erewhon, the notorious mini-chain of luxury organic grocery stores in Los Angeles, is hot. Or at least it certainly looks that way when you enter the company’s stores, propelled as you are directly into a scrum of young, beautiful Angelenos queued up to buy tubs of takeout, $20 smoothies designed by Hailey Bieber or Kendall Jenner and tote bags emblazoned with the Erewhon logo. When I visited outposts at the Grove and Venice Beach earlier this year, everyone was with a friend, a dog or both. All were wearing little tank tops and big pants and having the kind of relaxed weekday afternoon that suggested many of them had the types of careers Hollywood bequeaths on the preternaturally beautiful: actor, DJ, TikToker, nepo baby.

Erewhon has only 10 shops, all situated in Los Angeles County’s toniest neighborhoods, but following an infusion of investor cash in 2019, its specter has fallen on the food business far beyond Southern California. The company caters to a clientele disproportionately flush with cultural influence. Phil Lempert, a longtime grocery industry analyst, described owners Tony and Josephine Antoci—who bought the 58-year-old company in 2011—as newly minted “grocery royalty.” Muscling onto its shelves requires passing muster with Josephine, who casts a strict eye over every product’s ingredient list and sourcing. Her approval or lack of it has become a make-or-break moment for up-and-coming food and wellness brands. “Erewhon has been made out to be a trendsetter, but we don’t identify that way,” she told me in an email.