A regenerative farmer and restaurateur Bay, who has closed several of his restaurants in California, now faces the possibility of closing his remaining two restaurants.

Mollie Engelhart, owner of Sage Regenerative Kitchen, said that despite her constant efforts to keep her restaurants afloat, they are “barely hanging on at the tail end.”

“It doesn’t look like we can hold out because I’ve literally run out of assets to liquidate and keep us above ground and above water,” Engelhart told FOX Business. he said. Engelhard said she and her husband are “evaluating everything,” including their retirement and their home, hoping things will improve.

“I’ve sold off a lot of other assets trying to keep this afloat, believing that there will be a change, there may come a point when it’s ‘okay, we can get back to a regular flow of guests, we can get back to a normal life, and it hasn’t gotten better that way,” he added.

Its last two locations are in Pasadena and Echo Park, both in the Los Angeles area.

CALIFORNIA FAST-FOOD WORKERS ARE DEMANDING MORE WAGES

A number of factors in recent years have made financial recovery nearly impossible, Engelhart said.

Mollie Engelhart’s Sage Renewal Kitchen in Los Angeles. (Mollie Engelhart)

Engelhart explained: as work We are meeting after the pandemicA series of strikes began in Hollywood, including the Writers Guild and Screen Actors Guild. This hit the restaurant hard as many people working in the film industry had to cut back on their expenses.

He said these clients were still trying to recover financially after the strikes ended. Add to that rising costs due to inflation and rising minimum wages, he added.

FAST FOOD MINIMUM WAGE IMPACT: HIGHER PRICES, REDUCED HOURS

Mollie Engelhart at Sovereignty Ranch in Texas. (Mollie Engelhart)

Under a new state minimum wage law that took effect in April, wages at restaurants with at least 60 locations nationwide increased from $16 per hour to $20 per hour, excluding bake-your-own tortillas. Even though Engelhart didn’t fall into this category, he was still impressed. He argued that it’s not just fast food places that have to pay more; Restaurants of all kinds, including fine dining and casual restaurants like his, now have to compete for workers.

“I want this to work more than anything. To build this business, I missed out on thousands of hours with my kids, birthday parties, weddings, all kinds of things,” Engelhart said. “Now I’m losing them because I can’t pay payroll. “I never imagined where I would be.”

Mollie Engelhart’s Sage Renewal Kitchen in Los Angeles. (Mollie Engelhart)

Before the pandemic, Engelhart said all five of his restaurants generated a combined $20 million in revenue and employed 350 people. Today, its revenue is down to about $4 million and it has cut its number of employees to around 50. They now have a general manager and a kitchen manager who oversee their last two locations.

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The Barn at Sovereignty Farm in Texas. (Mollie Engelhart)

In addition to reducing headcount, Engelhart expanded his once-Vegan-only menu with meats from his Texas farm “hoping this would bring more butts to the restaurant.”

“Throughout the whole pandemic, we pivoted in so many different ways from having a grocery section, to making frozen meals, to making family meals,” he recalled.

The Barn at Sovereignty Farm in Texas. (Mollie Engelhart)

Engelhart still hopes things get better in California. But for now, Engelhart and her husband, Bandera, are focused on increasing business at Sovereignty Ranch in Texas.

They purchased the land in 2020 and transformed it into a hospitality farm, a regenerative farm and, most recently, a restaurant called The Barn.