Shuggie’s, the maximalist SF Mission District restaurant known for its menu of upcycled food waste, is closing after four years. Owners Kayla Abe and David Murphy announced on Instagram on Thursday that the restaurant’s last day will be July 11.
Despite trying everything they could think of to “coax people out of their homes” over the past two years, Abe said, from brunch to happy hour deals to a Wednesday prix fixe menu, patronage declined while costs climbed. Late last year, they even rebranded from Shuggie’s Trash Pie + Natural Wine to simply Shuggie’s, dropping pizza from the menu.
“At a certain point, you do all of those things, you see the results for a couple of months, and then you’re back to square one,” Abe said. “The culture in SF has just shifted over the past few years from the pandemic to now. There’s been a massive change, just people not going out as much, eating less when they do, drinking less when they do, staying in their neighborhoods more.”
When Shuggie’s first opened, it received tons of national acclaim — in 2023, Bon Appetit even named it one of the best new restaurants in the country. But while being a media darling certainly was good for business, Abe said, the hype always eventually fizzled…