Well, well.
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“I very much believed in the all-in approach, but I didn’t realize that we would exclude people,” he said.
Ummm…seriously?
Bookings for private events, an essential stream of income, have been particularly sparse. “It’s hard to get 30 people for a corporate dinner to come to a plant-based restaurant,” he said.
Another Ummm…you don’t say! 
I could continue with more copy/pastes from the article and more Ummms and perhaps a few additional eyerolls here and there, but I think that pretty much sums it up.
And the comments on the NYT article are interesting, to say the least.
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They usually are!
At the end of the day, this is a business. Despite some of the NYT comments that disparage Humm from deviating from the vegan and environmentally sustainable concept, there are ways that he can source meat and fish that align with this goal. Especially for the prices that EMP charges for dinner.
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I thought going vegan was stupid in the first place, but nobody asked me 
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Lasted less than 4 years, too. 
Nobody ever asks us LOL
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I love a place that does a good vegetarian, or even vegan meal well, but yeah, it’s mind-blowing that they didn’t think it wouldn’t automatically turn off a set of the dining population. Vegan and vegetarian are still viable business models, but to do it in such a big and expensive space. I can appreciate a big, bold and beautiful dining room, but how much sense does it make when you hear stories of restaurants already struggling with think margins? I suppose that’s why you have to push alcohol and the trendy, glitzy bar area to pay those bills.
I think back to V street in Philadelphia, which has also since closed down, and it was smaller scale and but still focused on refined vegan food - it was delicious! It was busy and hopping when I visited many years ago. The dining space was smaller, but still elegant. It was too bad they did not survive the pandemic.
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