Matthew Kenney

17 restaurants associated with Matthew Kenney that have shuttered since late 2021. Kenney has been able to persist, despite repeated failures to meet his financial obligations, in part because of his prominent role since the mid-2000s in promoting vegan cooking. The chef and his companies have been named in dozens of lawsuits in at least nine states, alleging a variety of misdeeds including illegal labor practices and stiffing creditors, landlords and employees. According to public records, Mr. Kenney owes $1.2 million in back taxes in New York State alone. Pure Food + Wine, the raw vegan restaurant he opened with Sarma Melngailis, his ex-girlfriend and business partner, was featured in “Bad Vegan,” the hit 2022 Netflix series. Cindy Landon, an actress, producer and widow of the Hollywood star Michael Landon, said she decided to become an investor in Plant Food + Wine when it opened in 2015 Richard Weintraub, a prominent Los Angeles-based real estate developer was also an investor in Plant Food. Kyle Saliba said he has opened five businesses with Mr. Kenney in the past 25 years and is suing Mr. Kenney and two of his businesses, alleging fraud and seeking damages of more than $25 million. Matt Bronfeld, the director of hospitality for Matthew Kenney Cuisine from 2016 t0 2023, was convicted in 2015 of grand larceny and sentenced to five years’ probation for embezzling more than $400,000 from former business associates.