Plant-based Burger Chain Stalk & Spade Closes
Two and a half years after it launched, plant-based burger chain Stalk & Spade is shuttering all three of its locations.
Launched by former fitness entrepreneur Steele Smiley in April 2021, the chain had stores in Wayzata, Edina, and the North Loop neighborhood in Minneapolis. Smiley had ambitions to transform the brand into a national franchise. The Edina Stalk & Spade, operated by former NHL player David Backes, marked the company’s first franchised location.
But a message on the restaurant’s website and social media accounts today said that the company has experienced “first-hand the unpredictable landscape of the plant-based meat and dairy alternatives industry, which has led us to make this hard choice.”
All three stores are closing as of Nov. 1, according to the message.
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Though it’s attracted plenty of investor interest within the last few years, the market for plant-based meat has apparently become unreliable within recent history. Consider the fate of Beyond Meat, one of the biggest and most promising producers of plant-based meat products. In its second quarter, the company saw its sales dip as much as 31% year over year. CEO Ethan Brown told analysts that the decline in revenue “reflected deeper headwinds than we previously anticipated.”
The future of the plant-based protein industry, as a whole, isn’t clear. “The current generation of alternative meats rode to prominence in an era of venture capital splurging and tech-fueled optimism,” Wired reported in August. “But plant-based meat companies aren’t tech startups, and the food industry isn’t the internet.”
For now, Steele Brands, the company that operates Stalk & Spade, is turning its attention to its two other “growth engines:” the Crisp & Green salad chain, along with fast-casual Mexican restaurant Puralima, formerly known as Paco & Lime. Crisp & Green currently operates stores in 15 states total, including Minnesota. Puralima, meanwhile, operates just one store in Minneapolis, though Smiley has stated his intention to open at least a dozen in the Twin Cities.
“The decision to close Stalk & Spade was a difficult one and was driven by multiple factors, including ongoing supply chain challenges and the nationwide decline in demand for plant-based meat and dairy alternatives,” Steele Brands said in an emailed statement. “Those challenges, combined with the bandwidth required by our two other growth engines of Crisp & Green and Puralima, made it clear where we need to put our focus moving forward.”
