THE restaurant chain set up by Sir Lewis Hamilton and Leonardo DiCaprio has been forced to close all its outlets in the UK after six troubled years in business.
Vegan food outlet Neat Burger, set up by the celebrities in 2019, has confirmed its British stores are now shutting, with the potential loss of around 150 jobs.
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Racing car legend Sir Lewis, 40, turned vegan in 2017 and argues that meat is not only cruel to animals but also contributes to global warming.
He set up a string of Neat Burger eateries in London as well as a branch in Milan and New York. The latter closed last summer.
But despite its food receiving praise after its launch, in 2023 the company posted substantial losses and confirmed half of its eight outlets in the capital would close.
At the time, a company spokesman said: “We are concentrating our efforts on our best performing restaurants — we believe that sometimes taking a step back is necessary to make a bigger leap forward.”
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But by this year only two restaurants were still operating in the UK, both of which the firm has confirmed will now close.
A spokesperson for the business said: “We have no further comment at this time, other than to confirm that the business has taken the difficult decision to close its UK restaurants. “
Only last year Neat Burger’s branch in Camden, North London received a two out of five food hygiene rating after officials inspected the premises.
However, this was quickly remedied by bosses and it was reassessed and received top marks.
However, a much bigger problem has been customer numbers and the businesses huge losses which by 2022 were already a staggering £7.9m – up from £3.2m the year before.
Neat Burger launched in 2019 with a mission “to create sustainable delicious dishes”.
Sir Lewis said at the time: “I believe we need a healthier high street option that tastes amazing and offers something exciting to those who want to be meat-free every now and again.”
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