Vegan restaurants all over Charlotte are in flux. What’s the deal?
Living Kitchen (formerly Luna’s), Exposed Vegan, Plant Joy: What do these places all have in common? They’re vegan spots in Charlotte that have closed recently, showing a larger pattern of vegan cuisine’s departure from the Queen City’s culinary scene.
Despite many favorites closing over the past few years, we’re seeing more vegan restaurants opening or planning to open all around Charlotte. The musical chairs may leave diners wondering: What’s going on in the city’s vegan food scene?
Julia Simon, owner of the former Plant Joy stall at Camp North End, has some ideas about why vegan places might be closing across the country.
“Small, single-location operations, vegan or no, are at risk right now for any number of reasons,” Simon recently told CharlotteFive. These factors include pressure from national chains, not having enough purchasing power in the face of high food costs, and inability to offer wages that keep up with other restaurants.
VelTree, which was owned by chef Velvet “Vel” Kelty-Jacobs and Treona “Tree” Kelty-Jacobs, is another closed spot that exemplifies this larger trend in Charlotte’s vegan food scene, especially in the sense of economic pressure.
“2020/21 and the pandemic devastated the restaurant industry especially small businesses, but because of our faith we continued to press through, but no one could know the full impact that Covid would leave on businesses around the world,” Kelty-Jacobs told CharlotteFive about the closure in late 2022.
And as Simon noted, it’s not just Charlotte seeing vegan spots close their doors. Hartbreakers, a restaurant in Bushwick, Brooklyn, saw a recent closure despite high popularity. According to Patch, the restaurant closed because of a health inspection failure — netting 52 inspection points.
And in Portland, Homegrown Smoker closed in 2021 because owner Jeff Ridabock retired, VegOut reported.
Pivoting in the face of pressure
Last year, fine dining restaurant Counter- launched a vegetarian experience but ended it early in August.
“Honestly, if we didn’t do that, Counter- would have had to close up. That’s how big of a financial impact it was. We weren’t even selling the amount of our labor costs,” chef owner Sam Hart told Unpretentious Palate at the time.
Counter- isn’t the only spot pivoting. Dee’s Vegan To-Go, which had opened in 2020 in a West Charlotte shopping center, has gone back to its roots with a space at the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market. Its plant-based neighbor in the same shopping center, Exposed Vegan, also closed its storefront.
Overall, it seems like diners in Charlotte are not seeking out fully vegetarian or vegan experiences at restaurants, opting more for the omnivore vibes that have mainly dominated the food scene thus far. Is there still room for vegan food in Charlotte?
Promising outlook for vegan spots
It’s not all bad news for the vegan scene in Charlotte. Though Plant Joy closed its stall at Camp North End, Soul Miner’s Garden is carrying on the torch.
Despite the recent news that longtime favorite Living Kitchen is closing, a new vegan spot has opened up. Mike’s Vegan Grill welcomed customers in University City on Saturday, Jan. 27, CharlotteFive previously reported.
And on the West side, Love In Action Cafe is succeeding in bringing nutritious food and solid community to a food desert. It opened a year ago, with fan favorites including “Ox No Tails” and vegan lasagna.
“The response from the community has been amazing,” co-owner Manny Lovon told CharlotteFive this week. “Most people don’t like meat, they just like the way it’s seasoned.”
Over at City Kitch, Boujie Vegan Bakery is holding it down as the only remaining vegan food vendor. Lillian McGuire, director of sales for City Kitch, has an idea of why it’s having success.
It “has on-point branding on top of delicious treats,” McGuire said. “To have a successful vegan concept in Charlotte, your marketing and product will have to be superb and appeal to a wider audience of eaters.”
And as CharlotteFive has repeatedly reported, the popular Atlanta-based Slutty Vegan is eyeing a Charlotte opening.
Charlotte’s Fern, completely vegan prior to the pandemic, pivoted the menu to offer dairy products, but as owner Jill Marcus puts it, that was a mistake.
Marcus noted that the Fern team thought expanding the menu to offer non-vegan fare would help bring in more traffic. “Well, that was a wrong assumption!” Marcus told CharlotteFive.
Now, diners can find a new all-vegan menu, and as Marcus said, sales have been up since the pivot.
And as Simon notes, banding together and supporting your favorite place is the way to make sure it’ll hang around.
“Now, more than ever before, if you love a small, local vegan restaurant, visiting regularly and tipping well, and spreading the good word, is the only way we keep our lovely little niche vegan restaurants around,” Simon said.
This story was originally published January 31, 2024 at 6:00 AM.