Hale and Hearty, a popular soup café in New York for 20 years, has quietly closed all of its stores “temporarily,” according to the signs on the windows. The brand owns, or has, 16 locations in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Long Island that comprise tens of thousands of square feet of retail space in prime locations.
The closures came without warning. The branch is at 745 Seventh Ave. He was scooping soup as recently as two weeks ago.
But the unjustified shutdown has not yet been reported. Ironically, stores also have signs proclaiming “We’re hiring!”
No other information was available directly. The “Contact Us” box on the Hale and Hearty website didn’t work.
Hill and Herty branch at 111 Fulton Street. Food major Chefs Warehouse was recently sued for nearly $160,000 in unpaid bills and by its landlord for $400,000 in unpaid rent.
But nothing was known about conditions elsewhere.
The series has its ups and downs. Downsizing from 21 locations a few years ago, its outlets in Midtown and FiDi have been hit by a loss of lunchtime traffic due to COVID-19.
But the shutdown, if it turns out to be permanent, will be a loss for the city, especially as office workers keep returning. It’s hard to find reliably good soup in Manhattan, and no chain offers such a wide range of options on a daily basis—from light chicken vegetables to thick New England clam chowder with pancetta, all made in Brooklyn kitchens. Her sandwiches weren’t bad either.
