Barnes & Noble Kitchen In California Ups Dining Experience With Pricey Meals

This past summer Barnes & Noble announced it would take a leap into the restaurant industry, and now the third bookstore/restaurant prototype will open Dec. 13 in Folsom, California, equipped with an expanded menu and local beer and wine options.

Barnes & Noble Kitchen worked with AvroKO (design and concept firm) and The Branstetter Group (hospitality management firm) to make the bookstore dining experience a reality, Eater reported.

To create the Kitchen's menu, the bookstore also partnered with executive chef Sheamus Feeley, who was part of the opening team for Farmstead Restaurant in Napa Valley and previously worked with the Hillstone Restaurant Group.

Prices for menu items range from $5 for a side dish to $26 for slow-cooked beef short ribs with horseradish cream, potato purée, and roasted carrots.

David Deason, the company's vice president of development, told The Sacramento Bee that despite the new kitchen concept, "books are the star."

"It's still a bookstore," he said.

The other hybrid bookstores are located in Eastchester, New York, and a second in Edina, Minnesota.

Barnes & Noble isn't the first retailer to start a restaurant venture. Urban Outfitters has opened restaurants and cafés in the U.S. from Austin to New York City.