Candle Kips Bay closing marks the end of a 42-year name

Candle, the vegan restaurant that traces back to a 1984 health-food store, will close its Kips Bay location at the end of September, chef Jorge Pineda has confirmed, ending a run that began with a 2023 comeback.

The name started life as Sunny's, a health-food shop opened by Bart Potenza and Joy Pierson, before becoming The Healthy Candle and eventually Candle Cafe in 1994. Candle 79, the flagship dining room, opened in 2003 and closed in 2020, following the 2019 closure of Candle Cafe West and the 2020 closure of Candle Cafe East.

Pineda and fellow chef Angel Ramos revived the name in March 2023 at 388 Third Avenue, betting that a smaller, tighter room could survive where the larger flagships hadn't. Pineda announced the closure on Instagram in August, citing "a difficult economic climate and mounting debts."

Candle has now closed and reopened often enough that the name has outlasted every room that carried it.

"Food, gas, and employee costs have all become very expensive," Pineda said, adding that the restaurant had no private investors to help absorb the losses. The comeback lasted three and a half years.

A wider retreat for legacy vegan rooms

Candle's closure follows a run of exits among New York's older plant-based restaurants: Blossom on Columbus Avenue shut in 2024 after 19 years, and Peacefood's downtown location closed earlier this year. Industry analysts point to plant-based dishes becoming standard on conventional menus as one reason dedicated vegan restaurants have lost their edge, a shift visible in how even meat-alternative brands like Beyond Meat are now chasing snack aisles instead of restaurant plates.

Candle's exit differs from the sudden shutter of Double Zero, the East Village vegan pizzeria that closed after 12 years — Pineda's Instagram post gave Candle's regulars weeks of notice, and Plant Powered Metro New York has organised a farewell celebration before the doors shut for good.

What outlasts the address

Candle 79 trained a generation of New York vegan cooks who went on to open their own rooms across the city, and that network is likely to outlast this closure more than any single dining room could. Whether the Candle name reopens a third time, as it has twice before, is a question Pineda has not answered.