Lovin’ Spoonfuls, the 100% plant-based restaurant and bakery that has fed Tucson vegans and omnivores alike for more than two decades, will close for good after its final service this Saturday, Oct. 24. The announcement came in an Instagram post Monday night, capping a monthslong fight to keep the Campbell Avenue kitchen alive.
The restaurant, located at 2990 N. Campbell Ave. Suite 120, opened in 2005 and built what Tucson Foodie described as a tight-knit community around its menu of breakfast burritos, fried chikn, and in-house bakery desserts. Owners Juan Irais Benavides and Michelle Benavides took over the business in 2023, with Juan having worked alongside original owner Sunny for three years before stepping into ownership.
In a statement, the owners said the math simply stopped working. “The numbers just aren’t adding up anymore, and as parents, we have to make the hard choice to step back,” they said, according to the same report. They said sales never caught up to the restaurant’s debt and expenses, even as regulars kept walking through the door.
A GoFundMe That Couldn’t Close the Gap
Facing mounting bills, the owners launched a GoFundMe campaign in June seeking $75,000 to keep the kitchen running. As of Tuesday, the campaign had raised $27,900, according to Tucson.com, which reported the couple had fallen behind on sales-tax payments. A separate report from KOLD News 13 put the figure at $28,000 raised as of the same date, against a stated need of $62,000 to stay afloat. The campaign drew 390 donations in total.
On the fundraiser page, organizers wrote that the debt had become too much to overcome. “We do continue to have support — but it is just not enough to cover the debt and expenses,” the page stated. The owners said the fundraiser bought the restaurant a few more months of operation, but it ultimately wasn’t enough to erase what they owed.
Rising Costs Squeezed the Kitchen
Juan Benavides told Tucson.com he watched his food costs double and triple after prices surged in late 2025. A MarginEdge report cited in that same account found lettuce prices jumped 130% and cauliflower, a staple of vegan cooking, spiked 230% following heavy rains and freezes in California.
A University of Arizona marketing professor told KOLD News 13 that brick-and-mortar restaurants face especially steep challenges from inflation and high fixed costs, and noted that the shift to remote work has thinned out the lunch rush and post-work dinner crowds many kitchens once relied on. The station also pointed to Brother John’s BBQ, which closed its doors in July after 11 years and pivoted to strictly catering, citing similar rising costs.
Beyond Tucson, the pressure on plant-based restaurants has become a familiar story. VegNews reported that vegan restaurants nationwide are leaning harder on community fundraising to survive, pointing to Austin’s Counter Culture, which reopened after a Kickstarter campaign raised nearly $50,000, and New York’s Caravan of Dreams, whose GoFundMe neared $310,000 after a Humans of New York feature.
Final Days on Campbell Avenue
Lovin’ Spoonfuls will keep its regular hours of 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. through Saturday’s close, and the team plans to sell down its remaining inventory while hoping to keep customers’ favorite dishes on the menu until the last plate goes out. The owners thanked donors for their support and wrote that they had formed many great relationships through the restaurant over the years.
Reports differ on exactly who has run Lovin’ Spoonfuls most recently — Tucson.com named the current owners as Juan Irais Benavides and Michelle Benavides, while KGUN9 identified the female owner as Michelle Cornett, who had owned the restaurant with her husband for three years. KGUN9 also reported the owners describing a cascade of rising debt, labor and food costs, inflation, and needed repairs that pushed the business past the point of recovery.
Dining and Cooking