Hale and Hearty, a preferred New York soup cafe for 20 years, quietly closed all of its shops “briefly,” in accordance with indicators within the home windows. The model has, or had, 16 areas in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Lengthy Island comprising tens of 1000’s of sq. ft of retail area in prime areas.
The shutdowns got here with out warning. The department at 745 Seventh Ave. was ladling out soup as just lately as two weeks in the past.
However the unexplained shutterings went unreported till now. Satirically the shops additionally had indicators that introduced “We’re hiring!”
No additional data was instantly out there. The Hale and Hearty web site “Contact us” field didn’t work.
One Hale and Hearty department at 111 Fulton St. was just lately sued by main meals vendor Cooks Warehouse for practically $160,000 in unpaid invoices and by its landlord for $400,000 in unpaid lease.
However nothing was recognized about circumstances at different areas.
The chain has had its ups and downs. It scaled down from 21 areas a couple of years in the past and its Midtown and FiDi shops had been hammered by COVID-19-driven lack of lunchtime site visitors.
However the shutdown, if it seems to be everlasting, could be a loss to town, particularly as workplace workers proceed to trickle again. Reliably good soup is more and more exhausting to seek out in Manhattan, and no chain supplied such a variety of decisions each day — from gentle hen vegetable to thick New England clam chowder with pancetta, all made in its Brooklyn kitchens. Its sandwiches weren’t unhealthy both.
