pure kitchen to shut doors on rideau street location
owners say crime in the byward market area was not a factor in closing.
1 minute read
pure kitchen on rideau street in ottawa.
julie oliver
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postmedia
the owners of ottawa’s vegan-friendly pure kitchen restaurants will close their two-year-old location at the corner of rideau street and the byward market’s william street on dec. 22. co-owner david leith said business at the downtown location never lived up to expectations, particularly during the summer patio season.
“it just didn’t work out the way we planned in terms of sales and profitability,” leith said. “maybe our concept wasn’t as wide-reaching as one would think in the healthy food market.”
he emphasized they’re not closing the restaurant because of crime in the byward market area. while it was a problem when the eatery opened in 2022, leith said things have improved this year.
“in the last six months whoever has been in charge of that area has been doing a good job of keeping it cleaned up,” he said.
leith speculated that the elgin and rideau street locations might have been too close together. “it might have split our client base up a little bit,” he said.
dave leith, co-owner of ottawa’s pure kitchen chain, enjoys mocktails with colleague megan campbell in 2022. the rideau street location of pure kitchen closed this week.
tony caldwell
/
postmedia
the first pure kitchen opened in westboro in 2015, with a menu that ottawa citizen restaurant critic peter hum said “caters to vegans, vegetarians, organic-food advocates and gluten-avoiders.” the elgin street location opened in 2016, followed by one in kanata in 2018.
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“we’re focusing on those now, and continuously upping our game,” leith said. “we’re excited about the other locations.”
there was also a location on preston street that closed about two years ago.
the rideau street closure will put about a dozen employees out of work. some will be placed at other pure kitchen locations or at other colleagues’ establishments, leith said.
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