6 Grocery Chains With Their Own Hot Bars

The United States boasts around 62,000 supermarkets and grocery stores, so it's probably no surprise that many companies have evolved beyond just the basics to get your attention. From online ordering and membership cards, to adding in-store pharmacies and even Starbucks coffee kiosks, the big chains are always looking for ways to lure shoppers away from the competition. One of the most popular upgrades for busy customers is hot bars, which offer an array of ready-to-eat items like pizza, pastas, roasted meats, and prepared salads. Not only are they an excellent alternative to cooking dinner after a long day of errands, hot bars are a great option for meal preppers, packing kids' lunches, and even daytime office workers looking for an alternative to fast food.

Not all hot bars are created equal, however, so it's good to know where you can find a hot bar and what to expect at each chain. Here we'll look at the offerings at Whole Foods, Giant Food, Harris Teeter & Kroger, Erewhon, and Wegmans. Gone are the days of grocery shopping just for raw ingredients to drag home and cook. As long as you're close to one of these major retailers, you can have a hot meal on the table in no time.

Perhaps the most discussed hot bars in American grocery stores are at Whole Foods, which are a big part of the company's prepared food lineup (check out our ranking of 10 of its offerings). While it was probably not the first grocery store chain to install hot bars, Whole Foods certainly inspired a lot of other companies to follow suit. Its hot bars offers up cooked entrees, soups, sides, and sandwiches, as well as hot pizza and rotisserie chickens.

One of the biggest perks of Whole Foods' prepared foods is that they are made from ingredients that don't contain partially hydrogenated oil, certain food colorings, preservatives, and sweeteners that are not up to its quality standards. The hot bar is also usually adjacent to a salad bar, and everything is priced the same so you can mix and match cooked foods with raw items. Hot food is available for lunch and dinner hours, and some locations (but not all) serve breakfast items.

One thing to keep in mind is that almost all of the hot food at Whole Foods is not cooked on site. Since 2017, the company has relied on regional commissary kitchens to control the consistency and safety of the food. This means that the Italian wedding soup you can get at your local store will taste the same at any other Whole Foods across the country. The downside, however, is that if something you like is discontinued, it's probably gone forever (RIP buffalo mac and cheese, discontinued during the pandemic).

Giant Food is a regional grocery chain headquartered in Maryland that boasts a pretty impressive hot bar with breakfast and lunch food at many of its locations. Highlights include hot fried chicken, rotisserie chicken, and pizza, as well as sides like collard greens, mashed potatoes, and cornbread.

Hot bars are not a part of every Giant Food store, so it's helpful to check the company's store locator on the website before heading out in search of its Nashville hot wings. If a store does have a hot bar, it will be listed in the store's departments along with the sushi counter, Starbucks, and gas station. It also pays to show up early to Giant if you're in the mood for hot food, because according to comments on its Facebook page, the food can get cleaned out pretty quickly depending on where you shop.

If you're not in the region of the country that's served by Giant Food, you can also check out Stop & Shop, which is owned by the same parent company, Ahold Delhaize (you might notice that they have the same logo). Stop & Shop is headquartered in the Boston area of Massachusetts, and while the two companies operate independently, the Massachusetts chain has hot bars in many locations that offer similar foods as those found in Giant Food stores.

Harris Teeter and Kroger, owned by the same parent company (which owns a ton of other brands), each have impressive hot food bars. Some of the larger stores even have multiple stations for different varieties of foods like pizza, chicken and wings, roasted potatoes and veggies, and Asian dishes like spicy garlic chicken and fried rice. Most locations, much like Whole Foods, also have a salad bar that's stocked with green salad items as well as prepared items like chicken and egg salad.

If you're only showing up for the hot food at a Harris Teeter or Kroger, some locations also have a full bar — as in alcohol –so if you really want a restaurant-style experience at the grocery store, you can pull up a stool and enjoy your pizza slice with a pint of beer.

Like Giant Food, not every Harris Teeter or Kroger has a hot bar, and they can also vary in size and food selection. Kroger and Harris Teeter are operated independently, despite having the same owner, so their hot bar selections can vary quite a lot. Use the Harris Teeter and Kroger store locator functions on the websites to find out if a location near you has a hot bar, which will be listed in the store's departments.

A lot has been said about Erewhon, the luxury grocery store that's all over TikTok these days, and while its viral $19 individual strawberries might not be worth all the hype, the hot bar is certainly worth investigating. This store is infamous for being expensive (a gallon of raw milk can cost as much as $20.99), but promises that all of its products are not just organic but also ethically sourced. At the moment, the company only operates 10 locations in Los Angeles County, California, and they've become known for eye-catching displays as they are for celebrity clientele, such as the Kardashians and Hailey Bieber.

If there were ever a place to shell out money for hot bar food, Erewhon might be the place. It helpfully posts a daily menu on the website of what's available on the bar, and you can choose items like organic grass-fed beef with chimichurri, organic turmeric chicken tenders, and organic maitake mushroom & miracle rice risotto. They also sell whole organic rotisserie chickens for around $23 each, which is almost five times the price of a $4.99 Costco chicken, but perhaps worth the splurge if you're environmentally conscious (and have an unlimited budget).

The Wegmans hot bar is arguably one of the most fun parts of visiting the store, which is part of an entire section of prepared foods that they call the Market Café. Some of the highlights of the hot bar is the wide selection of traditional mains and sides, like steamed fish and baked meatloaf, steamed veggies, and a selection of hot soups. There is also an entirely separate Asian hot bar with choices like fried rice, lo mein, and egg rolls, and often an Italian or pasta bar with offerings such as lasagna, baked penne, and chicken tender parmesan.

The size and scope of Wegmans' hot bar is impressive, and feels more like a food court than a grocery store. If you want to check it out for yourself, however, they are only located in eight states (New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, Virginia, North Carolina, Delaware) at the moment. Most locations have a Market Café section, although some stores scaled back during the Covid pandemic. A few locations also have The Burger Bar, which is less like a hot bar and more like a counter-service restaurant serving fresh burgers, sandwiches, fries, and shakes. Check the company website to find out if the location near you has a Burger Bar.