Soul Burger in Randwick shuts its doors after nine years

A popular plant-based burger restaurant has shut its doors, leaving many locals disappointed.

Soul Burger in Randwick in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, closed on July 14, 2024 after nine years in business.

The business said after deliberating for the past six months, it had made the difficult decision to close, with a new venture taking its place.

“I’ve concluded there just isn’t demand in Australia for a mass-market, scalable, fully vegan eatery. It’s been a slow heart-breaking realisation,” a statement from Soul Burger read.

The business added it would be replacing the Randwick chain with a new venture named Humble Burger Co, which will feature “shiitake infused grass-fed beef burgers, plant-based burgers, sides, shakes and more”.

“I’ve realised that only offering plant-based burgers is driving many hundreds of customers away weekly. Ironically, fuelling demand for factory farmed, animal-heavy food in the process,” the statement continued.

For now, the remaining Soul Burger outlets at Parramatta, Glebe and Newtown will “continue as per usual”.

“They will determine themselves if they want to remain as SB, convert to HUMBLE or close. As of now, all except Randwick are remaining as SB,” Soul Burger explained.

Fans of the Randwick branch were left “very disappointed” at the news of the plant-based burger joint’s closure.

“Another one bites the dust,” a post to the Sydney Vegans Facebook group read.

“Heart broken about this,” another added.

“This is depressing!” a third said.

However, others argued they understood the reasoning behind the business move and will continue to support the new venture.

“This is a business just trying to survive,” one said.

“Sad to see the change, but I get it,” a second added.

Since its peak in 2017, Soul Burger has seen a 60 per cent decline in sales, the chain explained in an online blog.

This has left the business no choice but to either close three stores, or to rebrand and add meat to its menu.

7NWES.com.au has reached out to Soul Burger for further comment.