{"id":319190,"date":"2026-05-16T19:25:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T19:25:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/319190\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T19:25:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T19:25:33","slug":"closed-until-further-notice-whats-up-with-this-fresno-area-franchise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/319190\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Closed until further notice.\u2019 What\u2019s up with this Fresno-area franchise?"},"content":{"rendered":"

All three Hummus Republic<\/a> restaurants in the Fresno area are closed \u2014 at least for now.<\/p>\n

The two Fresno locations of the build-your-own Mediterranean bowl franchise have \u201cClosed until further notice\u201d signs on their doors as of Friday, May 15.<\/p>\n

The Visalia restaurant, which had a different owner, closed April 30.<\/p>\n

The restaurants are franchises, meaning local owners pay a fee and a percentage of their restaurants\u2019 income to the Southern California-based company that created and markets the brand. Hummus Republic has more than 30 locations open nationwide.<\/p>\n

The Fresno owners could not be reached for comment.<\/p>\n

The Visalia location of the restaurant on Mooney Boulevard closed April 30 after about five years in business.<\/p>\n

The person behind the Visalia Hummus Republic Instagram page told a reporter from The Bee: \u201cI had a horrible experience with the franchise, and my lease is up. I decided not to (re-sign).\u201d<\/p>\n

They did not respond to further questions.<\/p>\n

An Instagram post thanked people for being more than just customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve been our neighbors and friends,\u201d it said. \u201cWe are so proud to have served this community for the past 5 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fresno Hummus Republic restaurants<\/p>\n

The first downtown Fresno location opened in May 2021 (after delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic) at 2424 Tulare Ave., near N Street.<\/p>\n

It served healthy bowls and sandwiches made with falafel, chicken or beef topped with vegetables and various kinds of hummus made from chickpeas and other ingredients.<\/p>\n

In 2022, when Wahoo\u2019s Fish Tacos next to GB3 at Palm and Nees avenues closed, a second Hummus Republic by the same owners and with the same landlord opened in the spot.<\/p>\n

As of Friday, the north Fresno location was no longer listed on the company\u2019s website and the phone was disconnected.<\/p>\n

The downtown Hummus Republic is still listed on the website.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s franchise coordinator, William Fuentes, responded to The Bee\u2019s questions in an email, but did not go into specifics about what was happening with restaurants in Visalia or Fresno.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike any franchise system, individual locations are independently owned and operated by local franchisees, and from time to time franchisee circumstances change,\u201d he said. \u201cWe cannot comment on the specific circumstances of individual franchise locations or franchisee relationships, as those are private business matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

A location in Alameda also closed earlier this month.<\/p>\n

However, the Hummus Republic brand continues to grow, with new locations in the works for several markets, Fuentes said. About 20 are listed as \u201ccoming soon\u201d on the company\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

Restaurants of all types are facing challenges lately<\/a>, as expenses continue to rise and consumers pull back on eating out.<\/p>\n

Franchises have a different business model than independently owned restaurants. Instead of building a brand from scratch, they rely on an already existing concept.<\/p>\n

According to a 2025 franchise disclosure document posted online, Hummus Republic franchisees must invest between $207,500 and $659,000, including $51,500 to $74,000 that goes to the franchisor.<\/p>\n

They also pay weekly royalty fees that are 6% of the restaurant\u2019s gross income, the document said. Another 2% goes to a brand development fund for expenses such as national marketing and advertising campaigns.<\/p>\n

\"Hummus<\/p>\n

Hummus Republic, at 2424 Tulare Street in downtown Fresno, is a modern Mediterranean restaurant that specializes in falafel and hummus. <\/p>\n

\"Hummus<\/p>\n

Hummus Republic makes customizable bowls like this one, along with wraps, pitas and more. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All three Hummus Republic restaurants in the Fresno area are closed \u2014 at least for now. The two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":319191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113,133271],"class_list":["post-319190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news","tag-hummus-republic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}