Founder tells of challenges as vegan restaurant Stem & Glory closes in Cambridge

The founder of Stem & Glory, the award-winning vegan restaurant in Cambridge, has been left dismayed after it was forced to close.

Staff have lost their jobs and customers have been left shocked by the closure of the Station Road site.

The company, which has been battling rising costs in recent years, said it had been in protracted lease negotiations, which were finally ended last week by the landlord, Aviva Investors.

Founder Louise Palmer-Masterton told the Cambridge Independent the plant-based restaurant had been fully booked through December.

“Stem & Glory has been serving Cambridge since 2016 and it has been the most incredible journey full of creativity and hope,” she said.

“Our current Cambridge location opened in 2021 on a real high. Trading was excellent and the business was profitable from its first month. Then Omicron arrived in November 2021 which decimated Christmas business for everyone.

“From that point onward things became increasingly difficult with wildly escalating costs across the board. At one point our electricity bill went up to £7,300 a month, from £1,600 a month. Staffing costs, ingredients costs, utility costs – literally everything increased significantly to the point that the business model was just broken.

“We closed our London restaurants in May 2023 and in June 2023 I underwent open heart surgery.

“Whilst I was recovering our team pulled together in the most incredible way and the creativity in our kitchen was at an all-time high. We were also awarded a lucrative catering contract which finally gave us hope of a new business model.

“Since we closed our London sites, we had been in long and protracted discussions with our Cambridge landlord – Aviva – about the terms for assigning our new lease. Last week Aviva decided to discontinue that conversation, and close us down, without any notice.

“They did this on the eve of the busiest weekend of the year. We were fully booked, as we were all through December.

“Jobs were lost without notice. Everyone is in shock.”

An Aviva Investors spokesperson said: “We have been a firm supporter of Stem & Glory during its time in Cambridge but given that the business is no longer financially viable having been placed into administration, with regret we were no longer able to support them remaining on the premises.”

Louise said the company was put in administration in May 2023, a process that was extended in May 2024, in order to close its London restaurants, but the restaurant has been operating as a new company under licence from the administrators.

It is understood that Aviva, however, concluded that with post-administration arrears to pay there would not be agreement on the lease.

Louiseargued it has become increasingly difficult for smaller independent businesses to survive.

She added: “Our teams put heart and soul into Stem & Glory for eight years. We had some incredible highs and always put all our love and effort into our food and the dining experience.

“Unless something shifts, more and more independents will be gone. It’s become too difficult. Conversations always go in the landlord’s favour.

“Since closing we have had an outpouring of love and positive comments from the community of Cambridge, many of whom are also in shock about what has happened.

“If the government is serious about growth then they have to do something about this. It shouldn’t be so hard and soul destroying making a business from something you love, and trying to create something of benefit to the community.”

In a notice to customers, the business said: “After eight wonderful years of serving vegan food in Cambridge, we are very sorry to say we are now closed with immediate effect. The past few years have taken their toll on all small businesses, and for our small business, in the end it was too much to bear and we were forced to close without notice.

“We have had the most amazing team through all these years and it has been an absolute pleasure serving Cambridge.”

Following the closure, one fellow small business owner told Stem & Glory: “I know this struggle well and I don’t think we’ll be too far behind. It’s taken such a toll on my mental and physical health. I’ve hit burnout and whatever is past burnout. I’m a shell of who I once was. Long hours, dealing with staffing issues – issue after issue, opening and also closing, the bureaucratic stuff I feel like I never get on top of, HMRC this, Companies House that, pensions… just stretched too thin, feeling like I can’t breathe. It’s just too much.”