Hart House: Kevin Hart’s Vegan Fast-Food Chain Closes All Locations Overnight

American comedian Kevin Hart’s plant-based restaurant chain Hart House suddenly closed all its locations last week.

Hart House, the Californian vegan fast-food eatery by comedian Kevin Hart, unexpectedly shut the doors of all its four locations on September 10.

“To our team, guests, and community, who helped make the change we all craved,” the chain wrote on Instagram. “A Hartfelt goodbye for now as we start a new chapter.”

CEO Andy Hooper confirmed the news to Eater Los Angeles, but the reason for the closure of the two-year-old chain is still unclear.

Hart established the venture in 2022, two years after publicly announcing that he was following a plant-forward diet, cutting out red meat, fish and seafood after a serious accident. “I founded Hart House to create a good experience that combines the joy of coming together over food with the power of purpose,” he wrote on the restaurant’s website, which still remains up with no reference to the closure.

Hart House’s competitive prices and in-house plant-based meats

Hart House opened its first location in Westchester in August 2022, followed by a second store in Monrovia in November. The chain’s flagship store was opened in May 2023 on the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue, while a fourth outlet was opened in University Park South a month later.

“If I can give people a place to have the option that’s placed smack dab in the middle of where your McDonald’s, Chick-fil-A, and Burger King [are], people may see a Hart House and say: ‘I’m going to go plant-based today,’” Hart told The Hollywood Reporter in 2022.

To set up the business, Hart teamed up with investor Michael Rubin and chef Mike Salem, who helped launch the Impossible Whopper during his time at Burger King.

Known for its competitive pricing, the chain sold chicken sandwiches, burgers, and nuggets for under $8, with combo meals costing less than $15. Meanwhile, fries, salads and tater tots were available for less than $3, and milkshakes for under $6.

Despite Hart being an investor in Beyond Meat, appearing in marketing campaigns at the time, he and his team decided against using branded plant-based meats, instead developing its own range of proprietary analogues in-house.

But the fast-food chain – which outlined its ambition to be the future of quick-service restaurants – has now closed. Why that happened, and what happens to it next, is unclear.

In a statement sent to Eater Los Angeles, Hooper said: “The response to the product has been incredible, and we thank our committed team, our customers, and our community partners for helping make the change we all craved, and for their unwavering support of Hart House.”

High costs and low sales key challenges for vegan restaurants

Hart House’s closure comes amid a turbulent time for plant-based restaurants in South California, and in the US as a whole.

Within Los Angeles, Vegan Drip Burger, Shojin, Nic’s on Beverly, Flore Vegan, Jewel, and Matthew Kenney’s VEG’D and Plant Food & Wine are among the plant-forward restaurants that have shut down this year alone. Even Shake Shack closed five stores in the LA area earlier this month.

This is part of a wider trend – according to the Los Angeles Times, at least 65 well-known restaurants closed in 2023. High inflation rates have squeezed consumer wallets, prompting them to spend less on dining out. A recent survey showed that American families spend 10% less of their food budget on restaurants than they did in 2022.

At the same time, restaurants themselves are facing thin margins, and high labour and ingredient costs. In 2023, pound sales of meat analogues dipped by 8% in the US foodservice sector, versus a 4% drop for conventional meat, according to Circana data cited by the Good Food Institute.

Plant proteins also suffer from a major price gap, which has been accentuated by the cost-of-living crisis – despite the cost of meat climbing faster than plant-based alternatives, the latter are still 38% more expensive. This has also pushed some formerly meatless restaurants to add meat to their menus, like Sage, Hot Tongue Pizza, Elf Cafe, Burgerlords, and Margo’s in Los Angeles.

That said, in California, the number of fast-food jobs has reached an all-time high, despite the mandated minimum wage increasing from $15.50 to $20 in April.

But as Hart’s restaurant closes, another celebrity-backed eatery is about to open its doors this winter, with siblings Billie Eilish and Finneal O’Connell partnering with restauranteur Nic Adler to set up Italian diner Argento in LA’s Silver Lake area.