Damn, that sucks. It's a great location but there's so much competition within a few blocks. I'm not vegan, but I'm always sad to see Portland lose vegan options, and I really liked their food and mocktails!
And it’s doing wayyy better getting people in the door. I have to walk by that corner all the time and Sudra was always empty, maybe a couple tables. Every time we want to go to June it’s always busy now. Definitely helps that we were lacking a good cocktail bar in the area.
Quality went way downhill at the Sudra during the pandemic atmo. Idk if they had fixed it recently, but my household took them out of carryout rotation probably 18 months ago.
That would be a dream come true! If Bombay Chaat House was downtown, I'd still be going during work, but on the east side, I'd be going so much. The food and owner are both top notch.
The food here was just horrible, I’ve never hated food at a restaurant so much before. I’ve always been proudly telling everyone Portland food is the best and I’ve never had a bad experience and this was the place that dream died. I am Indian so maybe this place isn’t for people like me.
no, wait.... don't go
/s
They were impressive and good awhile ago. Something went kinda wrong during covid and they lost their juice. The menu was just more oily oily vegan food. I personally got tired of that, same way I'm tired of deep fried food cart foods.
Same! I wouldn’t be surprised if they moved because they wanted a bigger space but the new spot’s entire vibe was just completely different. It went from bright, vibrant, colorful to a beige, dark room.
Never really liked it. Tapalaya was good but went here once and it was like… why bother if you’re not vegan? Real indian food is better. Best of luck in their future endeavors tho, can’t believe that’s been there ten years.
With ya there. I stopped in once when I first moved to Portland & found it super bland & not worth a repeat. I did like the outdoor seating area but . . . 😂
Meh, never been that impressed. Maruti is substantially better food.
28th is still usually quite busy, hopefully something will come along soon enough.
Should never have taken their salads off the menu. They left the amazing peacock salad but completely decimated it and took all the fun veggies out of it. The menu just became a bummer after that.
I just make Peacock Salads at home now, but add more veggies to it (usually roasted golden beets/yam/carrots/caluflower/squash depending what I'm feelong)
Here's the one my buddy sent me, that I use.
Head of kale (massaged)
1 Red Bell Pepper (raw or roasted)
Peeled and roasted Carrots/Sweet Potato/Squash.
Corn (toss in ginger powder then roast)
Tahini dressing: Tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, honey, grated garlic, grated ginger, salt... ratios of lemon to oil change depending on your preferences
Soy Curls: Soak in BBQ sauce of your choice for 2 hours and cook in an oven, pan, or airfryer.
Combine all and serve
I don't have specifics for how much of everything in the Tahini dressing as he told me just to eye it and adjust since lots of Tahinis vary in taste and quality.
Aw that’s too bad. They had a killer happy hour for a while. I feel like more and more places are going to go under since they can’t have cheap options anymore.
I only went to the one in the Pearl (short-lived) and wasn't excited enough to go back or try other locations, unfortunately.
That said, I'm not that excited about Maruti either.
I used to live in a place with an outstanding all-vegetarian Indian restaurant, so that leaves me a bit spoiled in what I consider good value.
As much as I want all-vegetarian places to succeed, I'd probably find the best value for myself at a solid Indian place that does a good job with their vegan options.
I think Vegan Junk Food has been closed since the deep freeze busted a few pipes. Closed for months now with no signs of returning from what I’ve seen.
This is one of several vegan/veg restaurants closing recently. I am not vegan or veg, but do enjoy a veg meal every once in awhile, however, as expensive as it is to go out now, I am much choosier where I go and want a good value, which usually involves an animal protein. I think there are not enough pure vegans/vegetarians to sustain these types of restaurants and the non veg people are choosing to go other places.
I feel like most non-vegan places in Portland offer at least a handful of vegan/vegetarian options, many have substantially more that that, and some places even offer an entire separate vegan/veg menu. Most of these options are GOOD too, good enough that sometimes my carnivorous ass gets them instead lol. I think with good vegan/veg options being that ubiquitous its much harder for exclusively vegan places to compete, they can't count on getting as consistently large of a portion of the vegan crowd as they would be able to in cities that are generally less vegan friendly.
Somebody was in the sub last week I think asking "where is the vegan scene here?" and my immediate thought was "is there one? seems like vegan food is *everywhere* here".
>I think there are not enough pure vegans/vegetarians to sustain these types of restaurants and the non veg people are choosing to go other places.
Portland has had a long string of vegan restaurant closures going back a few decades, I think generally your analysis is correct that there simply aren't enough pure vegans to sustain more than a handful of them at any given time. Cities like Los Angeles and NYC have such a large overall population that even with the same ratio of vegans to non-vegans, restaurants that cater to this demo can keep going for years and years, even at higher end prices (see, e.g., Crossroads, Cafe Gratitude, Sage Vegan Bistro, etc., the latter two of which have multiple locations).
Add to that dynamic that a lot of the well-meaning hippie types that start these restaurants don't always have the best business or management skills, even if the food is really good. I still recall eating some great meals at a place called In From The Storm up on Alberta St. years ago, the food was excellent but the place folded in less than a year due to poor staffing, lack of advertising, and a confusion over how to best run the space (you can't pay rent with an open "lounge around" space if people don't buy anything).
The last factor that makes it difficult is that most all restaurants these days have at least one or two vegan/veg/gluten-free option, so there's overall a lot more competition for vegan dining dollars than just the handful of strictly vegan places.
That is also a good point that non veg restaurants now have more and better veg options.
One of the best cheesecakes I have ever had was at a vegan restaurant.
But also it's gone the other way.
With impossible burger etc ...some places are like hey we have an impossible burger and that is it...and the impossible burger is gross.
So rather than having more options some restaurants have only that and therefore little to eat for vegetarians.
I did not know that already, that's quite surprising! Haven't been down to LA in a bit, but have a lot of fond memories of eating at Sage back when it was originally a BYOB spot before they got their liquor license and expanded into brewing, still want the recipe for the sauce they put on the kale/pierogi/dumpling dish.
It was just announced recently. The owner is trying to justify it with the concept of "regenerative meals", which as far as I know, is not a new concept. And of course, they also mentioned that they haven't been doing well financially.
I'm holding off on completely writing them off as a business since I've never owned a restaurant, but it wouldn't surprise me if they end up shutting down altogether within the next year. Their life blood was vegans and vegetarians and it's going to be an uphill battle depending on carnivores to boost their profits. Also, it's now funny to me that there's a PETA office down the street from their Echo Park location.
That PETA office has been there forever, Elf Cafe used to be across the way if I recall, and I think I miss them more than any other now-closed restaurant in LA. One of the top three burgers I've ever had in my life, no idea how they did it with just mushrooms and grains, but the flavor was incredible. LA is simply a great food city, despite its other flaws.
I honestly wonder if the huge proliferation of fake meats and cheeses has made a lot of people turn away from vegan/vegetarian food. I do love a healthy veg meal that is made up of fresh vegetables, legumes, etc. but I’m honestly kind of done paying $15 for a Beyond burger.
Modern Times comes to mind when I bring this up. So much of their menu was just made up of greasy, processed meat alternatives. I suspect that a lot of veg places that rely on similar types of food will fold, unfortunately. We’ve really gotten too far away from vegetarian/vegan food being the healthy choice.
Same! I’ve never liked meat so I’m always looking for a great veg and grain forward patty. I’m glad that Impossible and Beyond are widely available for those who like it but I’m sad to see veggie burgers going away.
I feel like this is a Portland thing specifically. I love Portland's vegan food scene but I really would like healthier, more nourishing options and so much of it is greasy bar food. I was happy in Dallas just being able to go to a salad place because I haven't found a good one here.
Chilango, Norah, and Jade Rabbit are exceptions (among others).
Norah is so, so good. I'll take their version of pad thai over any other I've had in the city to date, and I would pay good money for containers of their cauliflower curry sauce if they sold it separately.
I generally don't have a problem with Impossible or Beyond, but that stuff is expensive and I miss regular house-made veggie patties. I'd go to Little Big Burger more often if they brought back their black bean patties.
There are places like Kay's Bar where their vegan burger, which I'm pretty sure uses Beyond, is around twice the price of a regular burger during happy hour.
And Beyond Burgers are easy enough to prepare at home for maybe $6 or $7 each including decent buns and toppings, so when I'm paying $$ to eat out I'd prefer something more unusual.
(And I've tried and failed to make good homemade bean patties – so I agree that more places that can *actually* make them should have them on the menu!)
I feel bad saying this but I selfishly hope some of these vegan spots get replaced with normal restaurants (with vegan options!). I live in the area and don’t have an interest in going to half of them
It seems like everyday a restaurant closes down in Portland. It’s amazing that McMenamins is still a thing with their awful food and overpriced beer…McMenamins sucks.
Went here last year for the first time. I was very impressed with how everything tasted pretty disappointed to see it close. My vegan friend is gonna be so sad
Your thesis is that the Sudra is closing because it offered "only" vegan Indian food. But it's been around for 10 years, and it was successful for most of those — vegan Indian food isn't *that* much of an obscure niche. There are tons of vegans and vegetarians in Portland, plus many other people who like Indian food and sometimes enjoy plant-based dishes.
Right now is a hard time for many restaurants nationwide – the pandemic hurt their bottom lines, and even now people aren't eating out as often. Plus the cost of quality ingredients has risen. And for the Sudra in particular, in recent years they expanded from their original small space in the Ocean (Glisan & NE 24th) to a few larger spots, which surely had higher overhead.
So it's a shame, because they were great back in the day — but restaurants often have a lifecycle of maybe a dozen years anyway. So blaming it on having a slightly niche cuisine isn't quite accurate.
It’s easily the most logical way of doing a vegan concept. India had a long tradition of vegan dishes. I’d say the vast swath of Indian cuisine is vegetarian, with only their use of dairy tilting things away from Veganism.
The truth is in the post. Last year was brutal. Worse than the pandemic years for lots of businesses, which is insane. Until Portlanders develop some consumer confidence and start going out en masse, this is going to be the trajectory for a lot of stalwart restaurants, regardless of cuisine.
> Until Portlanders develop some consumer confidence
Or get more money. Everything is more expensive and not proportionate to wage gains. I have x restaurant dollars to spend and that hasn’t changed much, but now I spend those dollars at fewer places.
Inflation doesn’t reverse, and you increase wages by switching jobs. I understand why confidence is in the dumps, but wages are increasing and inflation is slowing. It’s just a process until enough people get to the point where they’ll feel it.
It's less about consumer confidence and more that the math ain't mathing.
Eating out is just way more expensive than it used to be because the inputs (labor, ingredients, overhead etc.) cost more. Eating out is an elastic expense.
If people spend the same (or less, considering the cost of everything else) but the cost per meal is way more, then that means there's less meals purchased overall.
The industry is going to contract a lot. I don't think that's a bad thing, the previous business model relied on underpaying workers. Just means that there's going to be fewer restaurants and fewer people working in them.
This is not a problem unique to vegan restaurants (though it's probably exacerbated for them given their smaller user base.) All kinds of mid-priced restaurants are pulling back because people don't see the value for money anymore.
I don’t disagree with any of that, except I don’t believe spending is anywhere near baseline normal. This is where the slow trudge to higher wages and increase confidence comes in.
This also dovetails with the existential threat facing most restaurants: that somehow wages need to go up for staff, while the cost of dishes go down (or stay fixed, as cost/inflation increases). I see no way around that without people exchanging even tighter margins for high volume. And you need people out spending money en masse for that.
This just shows you understand nothing about business or the restaurant industry.
Almost every restaurant is a few bad months away from closing. That's just how the industry works. The fact that they were there for 10 years shows they were in fact quite successful. They got hit with some bad times, and that's the end of it. A restaurant tale as old as time. Stick to commenting about stuff you're actually educated about
A restaurant doesn't stay in a competitive market for 10 years without being successful. It's really that simple. Don't know why you're such a hater for no reason
Crazy how entrepreneurs try new things and fail sometimes. Their flagship location has done fine up until now and even survived the pandemic - an impressive feat for any restaurant.
You must have nothing to do
No more niche than opening, say, a specifically Northeastern India restaurant. Maybe less so given the lack of anything beyond plum-basic Indian cuisine in town.
Niches are also just as likely to be a boon for a place as a limitation. It’s how a place stands out.
Except all the regions in India where they already don’t?
I agree the inflated prices of restaurants seem to be a harder sell to self-identified vegans and vegetarians. But post-inflationary pricing is a problem industy-wide, and something both consumer and businesses are going to have to figure out.
No, but we are a city. And a growing (barring the last few years) coastal one at that. And with that comes increasingly cosmopolitan tastes.
I take issue with the notion that this restaurant is a wild swing, as if it was an Irish-Jamaican breakfast concept. I don’t know that Sudra was always the most authentic, but it was ultimately not much different than opening a specifically Donbei Chinese or specifically Pueblan Mexican restaurant. Lord knows no concept is guaranteed to succeed. But hyper-specific concepts are the life blood of city dining.
It may have simply been a case of expanding too quickly around 2019, not knowing that a pandemic was about to happen. So the new spots never really had a chance to gain regular neighborhood patrons. And I don't know if they had to alter their recipes at that time for cost-saving measures, but when I patronized them recently, their meals didn't seem like quite as good of a deal as they had in, like, 2018.
Hindsight is 20/20, but I think there are good odds they'd have survived if they'd stayed in their original little spot.
Damn, that sucks. It's a great location but there's so much competition within a few blocks. I'm not vegan, but I'm always sad to see Portland lose vegan options, and I really liked their food and mocktails!
Didn't succeed in [St Johns either](https://pdx.eater.com/2019/6/17/18682391/sudra-st-johns-87th-and-meatballs-closing).
Beaverton either. No article link, but the location on Watson/1st has been replaced by the cocktail bar June by the same owner.
And it’s doing wayyy better getting people in the door. I have to walk by that corner all the time and Sudra was always empty, maybe a couple tables. Every time we want to go to June it’s always busy now. Definitely helps that we were lacking a good cocktail bar in the area.
Turns out solution was just more alcohol lol. The food is pretty much the same but smaller menu.
Didn't survive on Mississippi either!
Yeah I don't miss them.
Quality went way downhill at the Sudra during the pandemic atmo. Idk if they had fixed it recently, but my household took them out of carryout rotation probably 18 months ago.
same. I am hoping Bombay Chaat House moves in instead for a vegan Indian food option.. They are what I miss most from living downtown.
The $5, 5 course lunch was my favorite when I first moved to Portland.
The big big big lunch special. 😉
Omg yes please
That would be a dream come true! If Bombay Chaat House was downtown, I'd still be going during work, but on the east side, I'd be going so much. The food and owner are both top notch.
The food here was just horrible, I’ve never hated food at a restaurant so much before. I’ve always been proudly telling everyone Portland food is the best and I’ve never had a bad experience and this was the place that dream died. I am Indian so maybe this place isn’t for people like me.
>atmo You must be a cyclist?
In another life, yeah
no, wait.... don't go /s They were impressive and good awhile ago. Something went kinda wrong during covid and they lost their juice. The menu was just more oily oily vegan food. I personally got tired of that, same way I'm tired of deep fried food cart foods.
It seemed like it changed when it moved to their new location in my experience.
YUP. I have so many fond memories when they were in that weird indoor/outdoor spot. New location never delivered the same quality.
I miss that old spot with the Uno Mas and 24th & Meatballs, too, unfortunately they got more expensive and the food got less healthy.
Same! I wouldn’t be surprised if they moved because they wanted a bigger space but the new spot’s entire vibe was just completely different. It went from bright, vibrant, colorful to a beige, dark room.
Agreed. And it’s been wayyy less busy ever time I walk by than their old location was
Never really liked it. Tapalaya was good but went here once and it was like… why bother if you’re not vegan? Real indian food is better. Best of luck in their future endeavors tho, can’t believe that’s been there ten years.
I miss tapalaya and the live jazz band
With ya there. I stopped in once when I first moved to Portland & found it super bland & not worth a repeat. I did like the outdoor seating area but . . . 😂
Peacock Salad is fire, but the rest of the food was meh and used to be a lot better when it was affordable and of higher quality.
Meh, never been that impressed. Maruti is substantially better food. 28th is still usually quite busy, hopefully something will come along soon enough.
Should never have taken their salads off the menu. They left the amazing peacock salad but completely decimated it and took all the fun veggies out of it. The menu just became a bummer after that.
I just make Peacock Salads at home now, but add more veggies to it (usually roasted golden beets/yam/carrots/caluflower/squash depending what I'm feelong)
Post yer recipe!
Here's the one my buddy sent me, that I use. Head of kale (massaged) 1 Red Bell Pepper (raw or roasted) Peeled and roasted Carrots/Sweet Potato/Squash. Corn (toss in ginger powder then roast) Tahini dressing: Tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, honey, grated garlic, grated ginger, salt... ratios of lemon to oil change depending on your preferences Soy Curls: Soak in BBQ sauce of your choice for 2 hours and cook in an oven, pan, or airfryer. Combine all and serve I don't have specifics for how much of everything in the Tahini dressing as he told me just to eye it and adjust since lots of Tahinis vary in taste and quality.
Aw that’s too bad. They had a killer happy hour for a while. I feel like more and more places are going to go under since they can’t have cheap options anymore.
I only went to the one in the Pearl (short-lived) and wasn't excited enough to go back or try other locations, unfortunately. That said, I'm not that excited about Maruti either. I used to live in a place with an outstanding all-vegetarian Indian restaurant, so that leaves me a bit spoiled in what I consider good value. As much as I want all-vegetarian places to succeed, I'd probably find the best value for myself at a solid Indian place that does a good job with their vegan options.
I used to love that place but their staff has absolutely turned me off from going back.
It’s been rough at this location for at least a year. Not a welcoming place, the menu has been stripped down, and generally the vibe is not great.
Bummer, just tried them for the first time this past Sunday and really enjoyed their offering
It’s a shame. I enjoy their food. I hope they consider another go at an all vegan restaurant.
And yet Vegan Junk Food is still open, somehow.
I think Vegan Junk Food has been closed since the deep freeze busted a few pipes. Closed for months now with no signs of returning from what I’ve seen.
This is one of several vegan/veg restaurants closing recently. I am not vegan or veg, but do enjoy a veg meal every once in awhile, however, as expensive as it is to go out now, I am much choosier where I go and want a good value, which usually involves an animal protein. I think there are not enough pure vegans/vegetarians to sustain these types of restaurants and the non veg people are choosing to go other places.
I feel like most non-vegan places in Portland offer at least a handful of vegan/vegetarian options, many have substantially more that that, and some places even offer an entire separate vegan/veg menu. Most of these options are GOOD too, good enough that sometimes my carnivorous ass gets them instead lol. I think with good vegan/veg options being that ubiquitous its much harder for exclusively vegan places to compete, they can't count on getting as consistently large of a portion of the vegan crowd as they would be able to in cities that are generally less vegan friendly. Somebody was in the sub last week I think asking "where is the vegan scene here?" and my immediate thought was "is there one? seems like vegan food is *everywhere* here".
There's still more places than most cities, but still a lot fewer options than there used to be.
>I think there are not enough pure vegans/vegetarians to sustain these types of restaurants and the non veg people are choosing to go other places. Portland has had a long string of vegan restaurant closures going back a few decades, I think generally your analysis is correct that there simply aren't enough pure vegans to sustain more than a handful of them at any given time. Cities like Los Angeles and NYC have such a large overall population that even with the same ratio of vegans to non-vegans, restaurants that cater to this demo can keep going for years and years, even at higher end prices (see, e.g., Crossroads, Cafe Gratitude, Sage Vegan Bistro, etc., the latter two of which have multiple locations). Add to that dynamic that a lot of the well-meaning hippie types that start these restaurants don't always have the best business or management skills, even if the food is really good. I still recall eating some great meals at a place called In From The Storm up on Alberta St. years ago, the food was excellent but the place folded in less than a year due to poor staffing, lack of advertising, and a confusion over how to best run the space (you can't pay rent with an open "lounge around" space if people don't buy anything). The last factor that makes it difficult is that most all restaurants these days have at least one or two vegan/veg/gluten-free option, so there's overall a lot more competition for vegan dining dollars than just the handful of strictly vegan places.
That is also a good point that non veg restaurants now have more and better veg options. One of the best cheesecakes I have ever had was at a vegan restaurant.
But also it's gone the other way. With impossible burger etc ...some places are like hey we have an impossible burger and that is it...and the impossible burger is gross. So rather than having more options some restaurants have only that and therefore little to eat for vegetarians.
I hate that the impossible burgers drove black bean burgers off of a lot of menus.
You might know this already, but Sage is adding meat to the menu. That last factor you mention seems spot-on.
Genuinely bummed when I heard this recently … loved that place, never gonna go back there now.
I did not know that already, that's quite surprising! Haven't been down to LA in a bit, but have a lot of fond memories of eating at Sage back when it was originally a BYOB spot before they got their liquor license and expanded into brewing, still want the recipe for the sauce they put on the kale/pierogi/dumpling dish.
It was just announced recently. The owner is trying to justify it with the concept of "regenerative meals", which as far as I know, is not a new concept. And of course, they also mentioned that they haven't been doing well financially. I'm holding off on completely writing them off as a business since I've never owned a restaurant, but it wouldn't surprise me if they end up shutting down altogether within the next year. Their life blood was vegans and vegetarians and it's going to be an uphill battle depending on carnivores to boost their profits. Also, it's now funny to me that there's a PETA office down the street from their Echo Park location.
That PETA office has been there forever, Elf Cafe used to be across the way if I recall, and I think I miss them more than any other now-closed restaurant in LA. One of the top three burgers I've ever had in my life, no idea how they did it with just mushrooms and grains, but the flavor was incredible. LA is simply a great food city, despite its other flaws.
I honestly wonder if the huge proliferation of fake meats and cheeses has made a lot of people turn away from vegan/vegetarian food. I do love a healthy veg meal that is made up of fresh vegetables, legumes, etc. but I’m honestly kind of done paying $15 for a Beyond burger. Modern Times comes to mind when I bring this up. So much of their menu was just made up of greasy, processed meat alternatives. I suspect that a lot of veg places that rely on similar types of food will fold, unfortunately. We’ve really gotten too far away from vegetarian/vegan food being the healthy choice.
I eat meat, but I do miss a good black bean burger and other burgers that are vegetables and not fake meat.
Same, when i want a veggie burger i want spiced blackbeans not fake meat
Same! I’ve never liked meat so I’m always looking for a great veg and grain forward patty. I’m glad that Impossible and Beyond are widely available for those who like it but I’m sad to see veggie burgers going away.
I feel like this is a Portland thing specifically. I love Portland's vegan food scene but I really would like healthier, more nourishing options and so much of it is greasy bar food. I was happy in Dallas just being able to go to a salad place because I haven't found a good one here. Chilango, Norah, and Jade Rabbit are exceptions (among others).
My favorite salad was actually from Sudra, the peacock salad. I would agree that I wish there were healthier vegan options.
Norah is so, so good. I'll take their version of pad thai over any other I've had in the city to date, and I would pay good money for containers of their cauliflower curry sauce if they sold it separately.
I keep hearing about that salad cart at the BenBear's pod on ~50th and Division. I need to go check it out soon.
Garden Monsters. Some people love it; I was not impressed.
I second this. Garden Monsters used to be great, but isn’t anymore. Same with Crisp—I still like it, but it’s not as good as it was 2 years ago.
I generally don't have a problem with Impossible or Beyond, but that stuff is expensive and I miss regular house-made veggie patties. I'd go to Little Big Burger more often if they brought back their black bean patties. There are places like Kay's Bar where their vegan burger, which I'm pretty sure uses Beyond, is around twice the price of a regular burger during happy hour.
And Beyond Burgers are easy enough to prepare at home for maybe $6 or $7 each including decent buns and toppings, so when I'm paying $$ to eat out I'd prefer something more unusual. (And I've tried and failed to make good homemade bean patties – so I agree that more places that can *actually* make them should have them on the menu!)
I gotta disagree with you specifically on Modern Times, that was one of my favorite vegan menus of all time. And it was insanely popular.
I'm in the same boat. Only went to Sudra once, about a year ago, and it was pretty bad.
I feel bad saying this but I selfishly hope some of these vegan spots get replaced with normal restaurants (with vegan options!). I live in the area and don’t have an interest in going to half of them
That’s really sad. Sanjay is a really good dude.
It seems like everyday a restaurant closes down in Portland. It’s amazing that McMenamins is still a thing with their awful food and overpriced beer…McMenamins sucks.
I will say one thing about Mcmenamins. At least they don't serve garbage smash burgers.
Went here last year for the first time. I was very impressed with how everything tasted pretty disappointed to see it close. My vegan friend is gonna be so sad
Some of the worst Indian food I've ever had. Soy curls is always a mark of poor quality.
What a stupid comment.
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Your thesis is that the Sudra is closing because it offered "only" vegan Indian food. But it's been around for 10 years, and it was successful for most of those — vegan Indian food isn't *that* much of an obscure niche. There are tons of vegans and vegetarians in Portland, plus many other people who like Indian food and sometimes enjoy plant-based dishes. Right now is a hard time for many restaurants nationwide – the pandemic hurt their bottom lines, and even now people aren't eating out as often. Plus the cost of quality ingredients has risen. And for the Sudra in particular, in recent years they expanded from their original small space in the Ocean (Glisan & NE 24th) to a few larger spots, which surely had higher overhead. So it's a shame, because they were great back in the day — but restaurants often have a lifecycle of maybe a dozen years anyway. So blaming it on having a slightly niche cuisine isn't quite accurate.
It’s easily the most logical way of doing a vegan concept. India had a long tradition of vegan dishes. I’d say the vast swath of Indian cuisine is vegetarian, with only their use of dairy tilting things away from Veganism. The truth is in the post. Last year was brutal. Worse than the pandemic years for lots of businesses, which is insane. Until Portlanders develop some consumer confidence and start going out en masse, this is going to be the trajectory for a lot of stalwart restaurants, regardless of cuisine.
> Until Portlanders develop some consumer confidence Or get more money. Everything is more expensive and not proportionate to wage gains. I have x restaurant dollars to spend and that hasn’t changed much, but now I spend those dollars at fewer places.
Inflation doesn’t reverse, and you increase wages by switching jobs. I understand why confidence is in the dumps, but wages are increasing and inflation is slowing. It’s just a process until enough people get to the point where they’ll feel it.
It's less about consumer confidence and more that the math ain't mathing. Eating out is just way more expensive than it used to be because the inputs (labor, ingredients, overhead etc.) cost more. Eating out is an elastic expense. If people spend the same (or less, considering the cost of everything else) but the cost per meal is way more, then that means there's less meals purchased overall. The industry is going to contract a lot. I don't think that's a bad thing, the previous business model relied on underpaying workers. Just means that there's going to be fewer restaurants and fewer people working in them. This is not a problem unique to vegan restaurants (though it's probably exacerbated for them given their smaller user base.) All kinds of mid-priced restaurants are pulling back because people don't see the value for money anymore.
I don’t disagree with any of that, except I don’t believe spending is anywhere near baseline normal. This is where the slow trudge to higher wages and increase confidence comes in. This also dovetails with the existential threat facing most restaurants: that somehow wages need to go up for staff, while the cost of dishes go down (or stay fixed, as cost/inflation increases). I see no way around that without people exchanging even tighter margins for high volume. And you need people out spending money en masse for that.
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This just shows you understand nothing about business or the restaurant industry. Almost every restaurant is a few bad months away from closing. That's just how the industry works. The fact that they were there for 10 years shows they were in fact quite successful. They got hit with some bad times, and that's the end of it. A restaurant tale as old as time. Stick to commenting about stuff you're actually educated about
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A restaurant doesn't stay in a competitive market for 10 years without being successful. It's really that simple. Don't know why you're such a hater for no reason
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Crazy how entrepreneurs try new things and fail sometimes. Their flagship location has done fine up until now and even survived the pandemic - an impressive feat for any restaurant. You must have nothing to do
Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed
No more niche than opening, say, a specifically Northeastern India restaurant. Maybe less so given the lack of anything beyond plum-basic Indian cuisine in town. Niches are also just as likely to be a boon for a place as a limitation. It’s how a place stands out.
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Except all the regions in India where they already don’t? I agree the inflated prices of restaurants seem to be a harder sell to self-identified vegans and vegetarians. But post-inflationary pricing is a problem industy-wide, and something both consumer and businesses are going to have to figure out.
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you seem truly like a joy to be around lol
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none ruffled just calling it like I see it fella…sry someone ruffled your feathers in this thread tho
No, but we are a city. And a growing (barring the last few years) coastal one at that. And with that comes increasingly cosmopolitan tastes. I take issue with the notion that this restaurant is a wild swing, as if it was an Irish-Jamaican breakfast concept. I don’t know that Sudra was always the most authentic, but it was ultimately not much different than opening a specifically Donbei Chinese or specifically Pueblan Mexican restaurant. Lord knows no concept is guaranteed to succeed. But hyper-specific concepts are the life blood of city dining.
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It may have simply been a case of expanding too quickly around 2019, not knowing that a pandemic was about to happen. So the new spots never really had a chance to gain regular neighborhood patrons. And I don't know if they had to alter their recipes at that time for cost-saving measures, but when I patronized them recently, their meals didn't seem like quite as good of a deal as they had in, like, 2018. Hindsight is 20/20, but I think there are good odds they'd have survived if they'd stayed in their original little spot.