Fondue for you: Melting Pot expands home product line

More fans of the Melting Pot restaurant will now be able to enjoy fondue from the comfort of their own kitchens, nationwide.

The Tampa-based restaurant chain is expanding the retail footprint for its Melting Pot at Home line. In the largest retail push since the 2023 product launch, Melting Pot’s cheese and chocolate fondue products will now be at more than 2,500 grocery stores, including Publix in Florida. 

Other new retailers include Amazon Fresh, Harris Teeter, Safeway Southwest and Safeway Mountain West.

This is an effort to complement the restaurant experience, said Melting Pot director of retail Jennifer Lukas-Bourgeois. 

The Covid-19 pandemic played a role. This led the company’s chairman of the board Bob Johnston to explore different ways to bring the brand into a home environment, she explained. 

Melting Pot’s cheese fondues are crafted in Switzerland – where the dish was popularized. Company representatives spent time in the country to develop the line in 2023. 

The restaurant introduced its home products the same year online, Lukas-Bourgeois said. 

A limited retail presence in approximately 500 stores began in 2024. Many of the initial participating stores sold Melting Pot products seasonally for the holidays. 

Choosing grocery chains to work with for the expansion was partially based on location.  

“We really wanted to be where our restaurants are to solidify the brand presence and keep Melting Pot top of mind,” she explained. 

New retail products will be launching next year, including various cheese spreads. 

Melting Pot, which opened its first restaurant in 1975 in Maitland (near Orlando), has more than 90 locations in 31 states and Canada. 

The company previously had a St. Petersburg location at 4th Street N. for more than 30 years; it closed in 2020, during the pandemic. A new Melting Pot location opened on Central Avenue in April of this year.