Monty’s Good Burger Closes Two Locations

Edited by The VEGPRENEUR Team

This week, Monty’s Good Burger announced the closure of its Riverside and Culver City locations, with Sunday marking the final day of service at both restaurants.

In a candid and heartfelt message shared on social media, the team explained that they did everything they could to keep these locations operating for as long as possible. After eight years of serving the Riverside and Culver City communities, the brand is scaling back its footprint to focus on sustainability and survival.

Monty’s Echo Park and Koreatown locations will remain open, which the team described as giving them “a fighting chance to rebound.”

A Difficult but Increasingly Common Reality

The announcement is a reminder of the intense pressure facing restaurants, including well-known and well-loved plant-based concepts. Rising rent, higher labor costs, delivery platform fees, and shifts in consumer spending have made operating multiple brick-and-mortar locations significantly more challenging than in previous years.

Monty’s message makes clear that this decision was not taken lightly. The tone was appreciative, transparent, and deeply human, thanking both customers and team members for years of support and commitment.

Gratitude for Community and Team

A major theme of the announcement was gratitude. The brand thanked the Riverside and Culver City communities for eight years of love and support, and emphasized that none of the journey would have been possible without its staff.

That recognition matters. For many plant-based founders, teams are not just employees but partners in building something values-driven in an unforgiving industry.

What This Means for Plant-Based Founders

For founders and operators across the vegan and plant-based ecosystem, this moment highlights several important truths:

- Scaling back can be a strategic move, not a failure
- Focusing on core, high-performing locations can preserve long-term brand health
- Transparency during difficult moments builds trust with customers and the community
- Strong branding and authenticity continue to matter, even in contraction

Supporting the Brands That Built the Category

For those in Los Angeles, Monty’s Echo Park and Koreatown locations remain open. Supporting plant-based restaurants during moments like this can make a real difference, whether through visits, takeout orders, or sharing their story.

At VEGPRENEUR, we believe it is just as important to tell the hard stories as the success stories. Building the plant-based movement has never been linear, and moments like this are part of the reality of growing a mission-driven business in today’s market.