What is behind Kevin Hart’s abrupt closure of his vegan restaurant chain Hart House?
After Kevin Hart abruptly closed the Hart House, industry insiders are warning about the challenges facing the vegan food industry.
The abrupt closure of all four Los Angeles locations of Kevin Hart’s vegan fast-food restaurant chain Hart House has caused industry experts to reflect on the future viability of vegan food companies.
When Hart teamed up with Andy Hooper, former president of the &pizza chain, to open Hart House in 2022, the plan was to open 100 locations in five years. Menu offerings included plant-based “burgers” and “chick’n” sandwiches, among other items, which aligned with Hart’s shift to a mostly plant-based diet in 2020. Hooper was also interested in eventually getting into the consumer packaged goods business.
Hart House initially opened to great acclaim and support when it first opened. Sensational TikTok food reviewer Keith Lee gave Hart House a rave review when he visited in 2023. He praised the eatery for its affordability, with sandwiches costing less than $8 and combos less than $15, and called the sandwich he tried “amazing.”
Now that the company has closed all of its locations, some experts are calling the plan “ambitious.”
According to the Food Institute, Hart House faced an increase in California’s minimum wage from $15.50 to $20 (although the company already offered higher wages, generous health insurance and benefits) and an oversaturated market.
“Consumers may have viewed Hart House as a novelty rather than a serious player in the fast food industry,” Bassem Mostafa, leading market analyst and owner of market research agency Globemonitor, told The Food Institute.
He continued, “Kevin Hart’s celebrity status gave him notoriety, but it did not necessarily translate into sustained traffic or customer loyalty, both of which are critical to survival in the competitive restaurant industry.”
Hart House is far from the only vegan grocery store to close locations recently. The Food Institute also reports a “wave” of closures across the country, including the Veggie Grill chain, which closed 40% of its locations, Stalk & Speed in Minneapolis, Wild Thing in Oregon and VegeNation in Las Vegas.
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“The response to the product has been incredible and we thank our dedicated team, our customers and our community partners for helping us make the change we have all been longing for and for their unwavering support of Hart House,” Hooper noted in a statement confirming Hart House’s closure, according to The Food Institute.
High and rising operating costs in an already saturated market could mean that Hart House, as it stands, simply can’t keep up with the competition. Rather than using Beyond or Impossible patties like many other establishments offering vegan options, Hart House has developed its own. While Lee seemed to enjoy it, others recently expressed the opposite.
According to the Daily Mail, some have even gone so far as to compare Hart House to other black-owned vegan brands like the highly successful Slutty Vegan. Whether or not the reviews were written in good faith is hard to say, but we do know that Hart most likely doesn’t care.
In a recent episode of his podcast “Gold Minds with Kevin Hart,” he told his “Fright Night” co-star Chloe Bailey that he “never” reads reviews of “any” of his stuff – neither good nor bad.
“I don’t get distracted by the good or the bad side of it, because what distracts me is having an idea, then telling myself I’m going to execute the idea, working with people to execute it, finishing it, and then seeing the idea on the big screen or the small screen or in script form,” he said, adding, “I think to myself, ‘Man, good for me. I put my mind to something and finished it.’ So I’m happy with the fact that I get to do the things that I say I’m going to do. Other people’s opinions about the thing don’t affect my joy in my goal of completing it.”
What will become of Hart House is still a mystery, although a farewell statement on the company’s Instagram hints at a “next chapter.”
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