A $20 smoothie and $67 steak? Prices at Miami store hit the wallet — and a nerve
Would you pay 37 bucks for a pound of egg salad?
That’s part of the business plan at Nude Miami, which opened on May 15 in Brickell — and people are comparing it to Erewhon, an upscale grocery store favored by celebs and influencers in Los Angeles.
Among the chatter at lines bounding outside the doors: complaints about prices that seem pitched to deep-pocket celebs and influencers. Driscoll strawberries at $25. That’s four times the cost at Publix.
Nude Miami owners explain that what they’re building is more of a designer grocery store, similar to the way premium hospitality brands and luxury concepts do business in Miami.
“With investors like David Grutman involved, and technology partnerships like Vori, there’s a strong focus on creating a destination people genuinely want to visit, where the atmosphere, presentation, and overall feel become part of the value itself,” Charles Amine, co-founder and CEO of Nude Miami, said in an email to the Miami Herald.
Pop culture watchers may recall first granddaughter Kai Trump went viral recently for spending more than $200 on gourmet noshes like dates, sushi and buffalo cauliflower at the West Coast hot spot pronounced Air-a-One, an anagram of “nowhere.”
Nude Miami similarly sells good-for-you food.
“No seed oils, no GMOs, no artificial colors or flavors, no chemical preservatives, and no synthetic ingredients,” co-founder Sebastian Lezcano told the Miami Herald in January. But it all comes along with a similarly hefty price tag.
Nude Miami fans may argue that the money buys peace of mind.
“Every product is vetted against strict standards,” Lezcano said.
Also mindfully curated is the 4,720-square-foot, modern space.
The Nude Miami look
In one area of the store, customers can order a Hailey Bieber-esque smoothie, oh-so-trendy matcha and probiotic frozen yogurt. In another, they can line up buffet-style at a New York-esque hot bar featuring grass-fed steak, wild-caught salmon, pasture-raised chicken, plus what seems more veggies than you could consume in a lifetime.
Every dish is cooked exclusively in extra-virgin olive oil, cold-pressed avocado oil, grass-fed butter, or tallow, the owners promise.
The pricing controversy
Since Nude Miami opened last weekend, Instagram has been blowing up with videos of folks queuing outside the doors at 1100 Brickell Bay Dr. Shelves are lined with gorgeous but exorbitant items and enormous checkout tallies — $24.79 Driscoll strawberries and smoothies topping $20.
How big is the bill?
Infatuation Miami, a Miami entertainment social site, posted a snarky video to TikTok titled, “What in the NY/LA is going on here.” The text: “Full Nude grocery haul, coming right after we leave bankruptcy court.”
The clip shows that haul. A package of Organic Grass fed NY strip retailing for $67.19 a pound. This one, at more than half a pound, was selling for $44.01. Organic broccoli, $11.39. Organic parsley, $8.39.
A carton of Nude Miami egg salad packed on May 26 went for $37.50 a pound. Just under a half-pound, the plastic carton was stamped $18.19.
Estimated prices at Publix, the Lakeland-based supermarket giant that is routinely bashed for its pricing, run $28.30-a-pound for a NY strip. A head of broccoli, $6.30. Publix Deli egg salad, $11.74 a pound. Organic parsley, $2.99 a bunch.
Amine, Nude Miami’s co-founder, counters: “This isn’t meant to be a typical neighborhood grocery store competing on lowest price. The vision is centered around experience, aesthetic, exclusivity and brand identity.”
On social site Only in Dade’s lifestyle page, a video showing a bouncer in a black suit and sunglasses at the door, blew up. Among the 1,000-plus followers weighing in, some were shocked by the club-like security. Other naysayers griped that they’d be better off supporting their local farmers’ market. Even more sniped that only poseurs or transplants would choose to drop coin there (”Stop New Yorking our Miami.”)
On Nude Miami’s official Instagram page announcing “The Healthiest Grocery Store In America Is Now Open,” the reaction was kinder.
Among the market’s fans: Former Miami Mayor and crypto investor Francis Suarez — “Very excited to check it out.”
This story was originally published May 28, 2026 at 8:34 AM.
