After more than 31 years, trailblazing vegan restaurant Millennium is closing on May 16, the Oakland restaurant shared on Instagram. It’s a similar story to that of many Bay Area restaurants that have closed recently, the restaurant’s founding chef and co-owner Eric Tucker told SFGATE.
“Costs are going up and up continually. Our cover count goes down and down,” he said, referring to the number of diners a restaurant serves.
As diner preferences have shifted in recent years and people tighten their belts, it’s become a struggle for mid-priced restaurants like Millennium — the ones that fall somewhere in between fast-casual and fine dining — to stay afloat. The Rockridge eatery is a destination restaurant with a $72 prix fixe menu on Fridays and Saturdays, so it doesn’t get many walk-ins (a la carte dishes on its menu range from $6 to $28).
There’s also a lot more competition among vegan restaurants than when Millennium first opened in 1994 in San Francisco’s Hotel California. At that time, Tucker revolutionized plant-based dining by elevating it from brown rice and alfalfa sprouts to sophisticated dishes like grilled Moroccan-style portobello mushrooms and rice paper spring rolls with citrus vinaigrette. Original owners Larry and Ann Wheat retired in 2015, with Tucker and then-general manager Alison Bagby taking over as owners later that year and relocating Millennium to Rockridge.
While Tucker said Millennium has never striven to appeal solely to vegans, but rather “to be an all-plant-based restaurant that’s on par with a lot of other quality restaurants,” shifting diets may also have played a role in their recent downturn in business.
“For a hot moment, vegan was a thing and kind of trending,” he said. “I think a lot of people are doing a diametric, 180-shift and going back to a heavier, animal-based diet.”
Millennium isn’t the only Bay Area vegan restaurant to shutter amid this change. SF vegan Italian spot Baia and a handful of plant-based vendors at SF food hall Saluhall have all closed in recent years. Oakland Cal-Singaporean restaurant Lion Dance Cafe also shuttered, but for its owners move to Singapore rather than because of a lack of business, as SFGATE previously reported.
There may still be hope for a comeback for Millennium, Tucker said. Currently, the team is looking into pivoting to a new concept, such as a more scaled-back model with a prix fixe menu at a higher price point.
“We’ve had just a shockingly amazing outpouring of folks that have dined with us and have memories,” he said. “This week coming up is looking freaking packed every weekday, so that’s wonderful. We’re hoping to be able to get people to come in, whether it is or is not the end of the line.”