Manna Toast In Westport To Close At End Of The Month

WESTPORT, CT — Manna Toast, the vegan and vegetarian café and market on Church Lane in Westport, announced this week that it will close at the end of the year.

"Initially, our operations were designed for rapid growth, with the intention of opening multiple cafes across Fairfield County, but unfortunately in the current labor market, in our segment of the restaurant industry, and due to varying priorities in our personal and business lives, we’ve chosen not to invest in scaling the business," the owners wrote on Facebook. "It’s our hope that others will go forward and build on the success we’ve had in serving this wonderful community."

The restaurant opened during the pandemic in 2020, and it shared in a DoorDash grant in 2021 that was handed out to nearly 100 Connecticut eateries.

In the goodbye note on Facebook, the owners wrote that they are proud of the success they achieved in a relatively short period.

"We started in 2020, bravely opening during the height of the pandemic, with a mission and purpose," they wrote. "Since then we've served almost 30,000 customers and helped inspire a cultural shift towards plant-based eating. We've educated many about the value of supporting local food initiatives and lowering our collective impact on the environment by composting over 15,000 pounds of food waste and consistently investing in compostable and recyclable packaging. To say we're proud of what we accomplished would be an understatement."

But heading into 2023, with families grappling with inflation, and recession clouds on the horizon, Manna Toast CEO Howard Bass told the Connecticut Post that staying afloat was going to be a tough task.

"Please enjoy your Manna favorites over the next 3 weeks — place a takeout or delivery order, or visit us in the cafe and let us thank you in person and end the year with health and happiness."