After nearly two decades serving plant-based comfort food, Green Vegetarian Cuisine at the Alamo Quarry Market will close this Friday, its owners announced, ending a 19-year run that helped anchor San Antonio’s vegetarian scene. The shutdown leaves roughly eight fully vegetarian or vegan restaurants across the metro area and highlights how rising costs and changing dining habits are squeezing independent spots built around veg-only menus.
As reported by the San Antonio Express-News, chef and co-founder Mike Behrend confirmed the Quarry location will shut down after nearly two decades in business. The paper tallied about eight full vegetarian and vegan restaurants still operating in a metro area it says has more than 10,000 food-service operations.
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“The only reason people close anything is they run out of money,” Behrend told the San Antonio Express-News, pointing to rent at the Alamo Quarry Market and other overhead that slowly ate away at already slim margins. Co-founder Ellen Evans also told the paper that third-party delivery platforms, along with shifting customer behavior, have carved into revenue.
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