Oakland's iconic soul food restaurant "Brown Sugar Kitchen" is permanently closing after 15 years, as first reported by Oaklandside.
The owner and renowned celebrity chef Tanya Holland closed the restaurant before Christmas, a move originally intended to be temporary. However Holland, who had planned to reopen the restaurant this week, decided to make the move permanent.
"I feel bad that people didn't get to schedule their last meal at Brown Sugar Kitchen," Holland told the outlet. "I wanted to do one last farewell, but it’s just not possible."
Holland opened the restaurant in 2008 at 2534 Mandela Parkway in West Oakland, before moving it uptown in 2019 to 2295 Broadway.
Like many others in the food-service industry, she was forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last May due to losses from the COVID-19 pandemic. Holland also closed her Ferry Building location in 2020 after the owners reportedly increased rent prices.
She told Oaklandside that loss combined with the pandemic made it harder for the restaurant to remain open. She ultimately cited high rent spaces and increased crime rate deterring customers added to a situation that became "too much."
"I mean, it's COVID, but it’s also what’s happening in Oakland right now ... with all the empty offices and storefronts," she explained to SFGate. "I'm between some boarded-up retail spaces, and none of the office spaces are occupied, so there's not traffic."
Multiple locals and Holland's peers reacted to the restaurant's closure in the Oaklandside report, including Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf who told the outlet, "Oakland will truly miss every ingredient and morsel that came from Tanya Holland's Brown Sugar Kitchen. Tanya's world-famous soul food brought so much joy to so many residents and visitors, it's hard to imagine a world where Brown Sugar Kitchen isn't on the menu."
Holland is an award-winning chef whose restaurants have garnered national praise. She has written multiple cookbooks, hosts a popular food podcast called "Tanya’s Table," competed on the 15th season of reality show "Top Chef," and has her own T.V. show on the Oprah Winfrey Network.
Brown Sugar Kitchen was a fixture in the community the last 15 years, its menu highlighted by Holland's famed buttermilk fried chicken. It received multiple Michelin Bib Gourmand awards, given out by the esteemed guide book to "good quality, good value" restaurants.
"I got to do what I wanted to do for 15 years," she told Oaklandside. "But things evolve. Evolution is healthy."
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