Plant-based burger chain Flave, launched by ex-Zambrero CEO Stuart Cook, has closed down.

Stuart and Samantha Cook launched the vegan fast-food brand amid rapid growth in the plant-based food market and had plans to franchise the chain. However, the two Bondi stores were temporarily closed mid-2023.

A shift in consumer habits has been blamed for the brand’s difficulties.

In a statement, Cook said, “We’ve been actively exploring multiple options, including shutting down the Australian operations and engaging in discussions with potential international partners. However, their assessment, like ours, is that Flave is slightly ahead of current consumer habits.”

Plant-based fast food sector challenging

Cook said the market has experienced “significant fluctuations”.

Flave is not alone in finding the plant-based meat sector challenging: Neat Burger (backed by Lewis Hamilton and Leonardo DiCaprio) shuttered half of its sites last year while two months ago Soul Burger added meat to its menu.

“Despite our best efforts to innovate and adapt to these changes, the market dynamics have proven difficult to navigate. The conclusion is, there just isn’t demand in Australia for a mass-market, scalable, fully vegan eatery,” Cook said.

In 2022 he told Franchise Executives the brand would franchise in 2023 and announced the ambition to open 1000 restaurants within 10 years.

The AFR reported Flave had raised nearly $900,000 through crowdfunding in late 2022 and that Flave’s last available financial report showed it had sales of $1.2m and a $2.4m net loss for FY23.

In July this year Cook and Zambrero founder Dr Sam Prince settled a legal dispute over claims Cook has made about his role in building the Zambrero business. The undertakings were made by Cook without any admission of liability and without conceding that he has made any of the representations or that they are misleading or deceptive.

This story was originally published on Franchise Executives.