Kevin Hart is a bankable star for Hollywood studios, but his celebrity status didn’t quite translate into the same level of success with his foray into the food industry. As of Tuesday, Sept. 10, his four vegan burger restaurants, Hart House, have closed their doors across Los Angeles County.
The trendy business venture was co-founded by Hart and a “team of passionate partners” like CEO Andy Hooper in 2022.
The four locations included the flagship store in Hollywood, another in Westchester near Los Angeles International Airport, in Monrovia, and University Park, an area that is home to the University of Southern California. Many social media users learned of the closing via a post on Instagram.
“Thank you. To our team, guests, and community, who helped make the change we all craved. A Hartfelt goodbye for now as we start a new chapter,” wrote the Hart House team on Sept. 11. Comments were limited.
On the restaurant’s website, the comedian shared that he launched the franchise “to create a good experience that combines the joy of coming together over food, with the power of purpose.”
He would go on to promise the menu offers delivery and “‘can’t-believe-it’ flavor in every bite.” The company boasted that its food was free of cholesterol, antibiotics, hormones, artificial colors, preservatives, and much more.
The abrupt end to the short-lived project has spurred a range of reactions, which include those expressing disappointment, shock, and questions about what could have gone wrong. A host of comments were found on Vegan Hacks Pod’s TikTok video confirming that Hart House had in fact gone out of business overnight.
@veganhackspod #harthouse #outofbusiness #veganfastfood #kevinhart #vegan #plantbased #Foodtiktok #easyveganmeals #foodfyp #easyveganrecipes #foodprep #plantbasedmeals #veganfood #healthyvegan #plantbasedlifestyle #veganlifestyle #veganrecipe #animalfree #dairyfree #veganhackspod #simplerecipes ♬ original sound – Vegan Hacks Pod
“Wowww I actually like hart house,” wrote on user. However, the quality of the food, which included a chick’n sandwich, nuggets, shakes, a kale salad, fries and tots, is debatable.
“The food was awful especially if you’ve had genuinely good vegan food, like slutty vegan,” wrote one commenter, drawing a comparison between Hart House and Black-owned Slutty Vegan, which became a phenomenal success after launching in Atlanta.
Slutty Vegan Owner Pinky Cole has opened locations across the city, including at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Birmingham, Alabama, and across New York boroughs, with even more restaurants planned for the future.
Elsewhere online, another hot take on Hart House included, “Healthy, these plant based meats are highly processed foods, just look at the list of ingredients.” Someone else wrote, “I looked at the ingredients,and also found that it is high in sodium. Not healthy at all.”
Both comments seemingly contradict the healthy lifestyle that Hart has been known to promote. Furthermore, an apparent former patron left a less-than-satisfactory review that read, “The food was awful. Tasted like cardboard.” While another review said, “The food was unbelievably greasy and flavorless.”
Others suspect that marketing may have been an issue. The “Laugh At My Pain” comic’s last post about the Hart House was in October 2023 and featured Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell.
The two men indulged in burgers while promoting their film “Good Burger 2.” “Kevin never promoted it after the initial launch,” quipped one person who believes the movie star could have done more to help the business.
When someone else remarked that it was “very strange when a high profile place like this just shuts down without a press release or any notice,” another TikTok user asked, “What’s really going on!?”
In his only statement to the media, shared via Eater Los Angeles on Sept. 11, Hooper said, “The response to the product has been incredible, and we thank our committed team, our customers, and our community partners for helping make the change we all craved, and for their unwavering support of Hart House.” Hart has not acknowledged the closures on any of his social media platforms.
Sad…it’s becoming more and more evident that Kevin Hart is involved in a lot of illegal activities.
— Good vs Evil (@Rinos2021) September 13, 2024
The “Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist” actor has also lent his name to other business ventures, including working with Fabletics to launch his and wife Eniko Hart’s various apparel collections since 2020, his premium plant-powered superfood brand of protein shakes and supplements VitaHustle, as well as promoting C4 Energy drinks, to name a few.
Aside from his film and stand-up career, it appears as though the extracurricular deal that has seen the most attention from Hart is his line of tequilas, Gran Coramino, which he launched in 2022.
