The Living Kitchen in Chapel Hill closed its doors in June 2018. After reopening in August 2019, they closed again in October.
The vegan restaurant originally opened in Charlotte in 2010, and later in Raleigh in 2017. When the Raleigh location closed in July 2019, many of the Raleigh employees moved to the new location opening in Chapel Hill.
Scott Harth, managing partner for Living Kitchen, said they hope to reopen in a new location and under a more suitable business model for the Chapel Hill market in the future.
“Chapel Hill definitely has a large market for vegan food, and we had some of our most loyal customers there,” Harth said. “So it is our goal to have another restaurant put together next year for our customers.”
In Raleigh and Chapel Hill, a new business plan is being formulated that emphasizes a small, intimate atmosphere, and instead of servers and waiters, customers will order over-the-counter style.
Harth said the Charlotte store won’t follow the new design, because the large and diverse population of Charlotte supports the current financial goals of the store. He said one of the mistakes Living Kitchen made was trying to mimic the business plan at the Raleigh and Chapel Hill locations after the one in Charlotte.
Living Kitchen closed in Raleigh mostly because of poor location, Harth said. Stuck at the end of Fayetteville Street, the restaurant did not get enough foot traffic to sustain its financial goals, and the street was commonly closed down by the city for events, he said.
In Chapel Hill, Harth said the size of the Elliot Road space was too large, and they were paying for space they didn’t need.
“For now, we are focusing on the original store and trying to get sales to rebound in Charlotte,” Harth said. “Eventually we hope to reopen in Chapel Hill and Raleigh, and we regret any hardships to our customers who were disappointed by the closings.”
