This quick-service restaurant has become successful in all aspects, from soup to nuts.
It is unknown what caused New York’s Hale and Hearty, a quick-service restaurant that specialized in soups and was popular with the lunch crowd, to suddenly close its doors.
The abrupt closing of all 16 locations across Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Long Island came as a surprise after the establishments had been in operation for close to 30 years. The company has announced that it “will be temporarily closing all stores as of today, July 1, 2022,” according to signs that have been displayed in several of its retail locations.
Since February, the social media profiles associated with the chain have been dormant.
Someone who claimed to be a longtime employee of the company and who had access to the company’s press account responded to an inquiry from the Daily News on Monday. This individual stated that the company encountered financial challenges.
The author of the message, who identified herself as Tonya, wrote as follows: “Hale & Hearty soups don’t have any money; they owe rent and vendors a lot of money [and] didn’t notify the management what was going on… Hale & Hearty soups don’t have any money; they owe rent and suppliers a lot of money.” Suddenly on Friday, it hit us like a tonne of bricks that today is our last day at work, and now we are all jobless. I was employed here for a total of 18 years. What a silly way to spend my time. I could have been able to retire elsewhere.”
Andrew and Jonathan Schnipper, who are brothers, established the company in 1995 with a storefront on the Upper East Side. They went on to open a total of 16 additional sites in the tristate area.
Over the course of his nine years of service at Hale & Hearty, classically-trained chef Bruce Rogers came up with more than 150 new recipes.
In addition to salads and sandwiches, the wide soup menu featured seasonal selections such as Yucatan chicken lime and orzo, as well as options that were available throughout the year such as tomato basil and rice.
