‘It was exhausting’: LA vegan restaurants are putting meat back on the menu

California has been at the forefront of healthful eating and plant-based cuisine for decades, from restaurants like Chez Panisse in Berkeley to Michael’s in greater Los Angeles. But despite decades of offering meatless this or gluten-free that, some Southern California restaurants have recently decided that going entirely vegan is not a recipe for long-term financial success.

After years of being vegan, some very well-known LA restaurants are adding meat, dairy or both to their menus to appeal to a larger audience.

“The landscape was much different when we opened eight years ago,” says Frederick Guerrero of popular burger spot Burgerlords, which has two locations in LA. The first restaurant launched in 2015 with both beef and meat-free patties, but in 2020, the nearly lifelong vegetarian decided to take the restaurant entirely vegan.

“My brother Max [then a partner in the restaurant] and I were scared to open an all-vegan restaurant,” Guerrero tells SFGATE. “When COVID hit, we said, ‘Screw it,’ and decided that it was time.”

The Guerrero brothers served house-made veggie patties made from 30 vegetables, nuts, grains and spices, as well as a homemade plant-based “beefy” patty done in the style of Impossible or Beyond Meat burgers. They hoped to stand out in burger-saturated LA, and to appeal directly to the area’s specifically vegan population. Even in a city like Los Angeles, which has consistently been named one of the most vegan-friendly cities for its plethora of meat-free dining options, targeting the vegan market may prove to be too limiting. A Gallup poll in August of this year, for instance, found that only 1% of Americans identify as vegans, with 4% considering themselves vegetarian.

“For the past three years as a vegan restaurant, it was exhausting trying to build that community. We were always petitioning for people to come to the restaurant,” he says.

That menu lasted until July 2023, when Guerrero decided to start making beef patties again, sourcing grass-fed, grass-finished beef from Cream Co. Meats in Northern California. “It was important to use a very high-quality and responsibly sourced product for the burgers, not some commodity ground beef,” Guerrero says. He cites both financial concerns and the lack of interest in an all-vegan menu as reasons for the change.

“We felt like we had to open the restaurant up to more people, but we also saw a lot of vegan restaurants throwing in the towel,” Guerrero adds. 

He points to the closures of several outposts of Monty’s Good Burger, an LA vegan burger chain.

“That says something,” Guerrero says.

Guerrero also points to the rise of products like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat. While positive for bringing awareness to veganism, they come with their own social hurdles. 

“We always had this feeling those companies were creating this ‘try it’ culture,” Guerrero says, meaning the meatless patties were seen as a gateway for omnivores to consume fewer animal products, “but it wasn’t really sticking. We felt that at the restaurant too. People were more open to trying it once, but they ultimately just wanted to have the comfort of what they know.”

Burgerlords isn’t the only restaurant to ditch a meat- and dairy-free menu. Margo’s, a restaurant in Santa Monica, Calif., also went nonvegan over the summer. Owner Mark Verge told Eater LA that it was a decision made to save the restaurant. “I think if we did not make the change, we were definitely going to have to close down,” he said. “I was probably going to lose 30 jobs. We were just not going to last going plant-based.”

The Eater article also noted that “Margo’s first week offering meat on the menu made for one of the best weeks the restaurant has had from a financial standpoint.” Verge did not respond to requests from SFGATE to comment for this article.

Hot Tongue Pizza, which opened in 2022, also moved from an all-vegan menu to using dairy on its pies this fall. Owner Alex Koons wrote in an October Instagram post, “I recently rekindled my relationship with dairy cheese. … I recognize that not everyone is a fan of dairy but we’re committed to maintaining the same level of quality we expect from our vegan offerings, with no shortcuts.” While everything on Hot Tongue’s menu can still be made vegan, several pizzas and pastas now feature the likes of mozzarella, ricotta and Parmesan. Koons declined to speak with SFGATE for this story.

The challenge of a vegan menu is one that even owners of successful plant-based restaurants can relate to. Heather Tierney, who has operated an outpost of her vegetarian restaurant the Butcher’s Daughter in LA since 2016, believes that appealing strictly to vegans is too limiting.

“There aren’t enough vegans in the cities we’re in. If you’re just targeting vegans, you’re losing out on a larger demographic,” Tierney says. “Plus, vegan food was traditionally thought of as bland, and not necessarily good for you, with ingredients like cashew cream. Part of our secret of winning customers is to be more inclusive.”

The past year has seen several vegan closures around Los Angeles, including Moby’s high-profile Little Pine, which quietly closed its doors last fall. Other casualties have included well-known plant-based chef Matthew Kenney’s vegan pizza place Double Zero, 12-year-old Silver Lake restaurant Mohawk Bend, bar-slash-restaurant Junkyard Dog, and the last LA outpost of Native Foods Cafe. 

For Guerrero, the addition of beef burgers has been positive financially, and it has definitely broadened the appeal of Burgerlords for the general LA audience.

“Sales have slowly been creeping up,” he says. “And at least now, no one walks out the door like they did when we were only selling vegan burgers.”