Sage, A Former Vegan Restaurant That Began Serving ‘Regenerative’ Meat, Closes Down After 14 Years

Months after adding meat to its menu, California’s formerly vegan restaurant Sage Regenerative Kitchen has shuttered its remaining locations.

One of California’s most prominent vegan eateries, Sage Plant Bistro & Brewery shifted gears in April last year. Facing a host of financial struggles, the restaurant decided to add ‘regeneratively farmed’ meat and dairy to its menu, changing its name to Sage Regenerative Kitchen.

It sparked an enormous backlash from customers, animal rights groups, as well as its own employees. The Instagram post announcing the move was flooded with criticism for what was until then a beacon of plant-based dining in Southern California.

But nine months after announcing the shift, the restaurant has closed its remaining locations in Echo Park and Pasadena. Its final day of service was Sunday, January 5, making it the latest vegan casualty in the area’s hospitality sector.

Decision to add meat to menu unpopular with diners

The Echo Park site was Sage’s first eatery, established back in 2011. Known for its Brazilian bowl, buffalo cauliflower, tofu breakfast burritos, and vegan pizzas, the restaurant became hugely popular over the next decade, opening two other locations, as well as a cloud kitchen.

But the business – operated by Mollie Engelhart and her husband Elias Sosa – has been fraught with financial challenges for the last few years. In 2023, it had outstanding rent and taxes, prompting the owners to close the cloud kitchen and the site in Agoura Hills. The couple also sold their home in California “in hopes of breathing new life into Sage”, according to the announcement of the closure.

The decision to add meat and dairy to the menu was spurred by Engelhart and Sosa’s passion for regenerative agriculture (they have a restaurant, The Barn, at their Sovereignty Ranch farm in Texas). It meant that the previously plant-based menu now featured items like pasture-raised, grass-fed bison, beef, wild boar, chicken, and eggs, beef tallow fries, and dairy cheese.

The move was met with outrage, both online and in person. “How can a business go from promoting compassion and sustainability to this? Regenerative Agriculture is a SHAM if it involves animals,” PETA wrote on Instagram. “This is such a huge betrayal to animals, the Earth, and your customers.”

Monty’s Good Burger, another popular vegan chain in the area, commented: “I am very aware of the struggle for restaurants, especially plant-based ones. Being a fan and inspired by Sage and Molly, I must have subconsciously justified the business aspect of this decision. But… what the f*ck is this post? This is pure unbridled propaganda that has been consistently backed, distributed and funded by big AG for the past 15 years.”

Speaking to Bon Appetit shortly after the move, Engelhart said she had been a lifelong vegetarian. “I was raised in this lifestyle,” she said. “I believe that I made a mistake. What I believed before is not what I believe now.”

Asked for her take on the pushback, she said: “When we identify with anything as our personality or as our identity, anything that pushes up against that is scary. We will reject it and try to tear it down so that the personality can stay intact.”

Sage is LA’s latest vegan casualty

Regenerative farming, focused on soil restoration and ecosystem health, has exploded in popularity in recent years, propelled by documentaries like Kiss the Ground, its sequel Common Ground, and Feeding Tomorrow. In fact, Engelhart sits on the board of Kiss the Ground, the non-profit the 2020 film is based on, which was co-founded by her brother.

But climate activists have pointed out that the lack of clear legal standards around regenerative agriculture has allowed meat and dairy producers to “co-opt the term to greenwash harmful practices”. It’s an accusation Engelhart has previously rejected.

One user commenting on the April 2024 post predicted Sage’s fortunes: “The LA vegan restaurant > adds meat to the menu to boost profits > shutters anyway pipeline.”

Sage isn’t the only former vegan restaurant in Los Angeles to add animal proteins to its menu – Hot Tongue Pizza, Elf Cafe, Burgerlords, and Margo’s have all taken the same measure in the last year or so.

“We all poured our passion into shifting the concept to regenerative agriculture, but despite our efforts, we find ourselves in the same predicament today,” Sage wrote on Instagram on New Year’s Day. The post was flooded with a swathe of negative comments from people critical of the menu shift.

In an interview with Eater LA, Engelhart rued the reaction to the move, calling it a “sad victory” for vegans who protested it. “I think that Sage closing is a reflection of how disconnected we are from our food systems,” she said. “What will come into Sage that’s going to be better for the animals, better for the farmers, and better for the community than I was?”

Sage’s closure comes amid a torrid time for Los Angeles restaurants, especially those that are (or used to be) vegan. In 2024, Vegan Drip Burger, Shojin, Nic’s on Beverly, Flore Vegan, Jewel, Matthew Kenney’s VEG’D, and Kevin Hart’s Hart House all shut their doors. Cafe Gratitude, another prominent vegan chain (owner by Engelhart’s father), has closed locations in recent years.

Thin margins and high labour and material costs are key reasons for this – despite the cost of meat climbing faster than plant-based alternatives, the latter products remain 38% more expensive in the US. And in 2023, pound sales of meat analogues dipped by 8% in the foodservice sector, versus a 4% drop for conventional meat.