Vegan News
Fort Worth's only vegan burger joint is calling it quits
A vegan burger joint in Fort Worth is calling it quits: Zonk Burger, the city's first restaurant dedicated to vegan burgers, which opened two years ago on Race Street, will close on April 2.
Co-founder Emily Hahn called it "a bummer," but said it was time.
"Four years ago, we started taking steps to open a high-quality but accessible restaurant, filling what we thought was a hole in the Fort Worth scene," Hahn said in a note. "We feel like we succeeded in many ways and are really proud of what we put together here. However, whether we were naïve, dumb or victims of broader macro trends, the demand just isn't there for what we're selling."
Zonk opened in a former doughnut shop at 2912 Race St., where it's serving a variety of vegan burgers, sandwiches, and fries.
Zonk was from Erin Hahn and Zachary Stacy, who started out with a food truck in 2019 before graduating to a permanent location in the River East neighborhood of Fort Worth taking over a former doughnut shop at 2912 Race St., where they served vegan burgers made from in-house recipes using high-quality ingredients, plus sandwiches, fries, and the occasional doughnut special.
Zahn started devising recipes as a labor of love, after she changed to a vegan diet, developing burgers from beans, grains, fungi, vegetables and seasonings.
Their burgers earned them a number of nods including making a list of Fort Worth's top 5 vegan restaurants, and a nomination for Best New Restaurant in CultureMap's annual Tastemaker Awards.
Hahn says they nearly found someone to keep the dream alive by aquiring Zonk Burger, but it didn't work out, and were on a tight timeline before their lease ended.
"It has truly been our pleasure to get to know y'all, and we're so grateful to everyone who made us a part of their routine. Some of you seemed to get what we were going for, and you made this experiment worth it," she says.
They're changing their Saturday service to brunch, like Sunday, so they'll serve both the regular Zonk menu and their brunch menu from 10 am-4 pm. There may be unexpected menu changes or the possibility they'll sell out of items, and they recommend ordering online in advance.