Some big news could be brewing on the restaurant scene here in Northern Virginia – but details are still super scarce.
As regular readers know, this weekend The Burn broke the news about the “closure” of all five Greenheart Juice Shop locations. That includes the stores in Leesburg, Aldie, Vienna, Arlington, and DC.
We put “closure” in quote marks, because we also reported that Greenheart management had told us new operators were coming in to keep some or all of the stores open.
However, they would not disclose who the new operators would be.
This is where things get interesting. Apparently employees at some Greenheart locations were told that the Toastique restaurant brand was the new operator and the stores would be transitioning into new Toastique locations.
At the same time, rumors started popping up that the South Block brand was also in the mix and could be taking some of the locations.
If you’re not familiar with Toastique, it’s a growing restaurant brand based in Washington DC that specializes in gourmet toasts, healthy fruit bowls, cold-pressed juices, smoothies, and more.
They currently have 75 locations open or announced across the country, including several here in Northern Virginia.
Meanwhile, South Block is also a quickly growing DC-based brand that has a menu featuring juices, fresh fruit bowls, smoothies, and more.
South Block has roughly 20 locations open or in the works in the DMV and two more on the way in North Carolina.
It’s easy to see why either brand would be a good candidate to take over Greenheart locations since the menus are all in the same “space” more or less.
We reached out to all three entities for more information on the Toastique and South Block rumors. Greenheart’s owner and Toastique’s management have not responded yet. However, the CEO of South Block did.
“This is a rapidly evolving situation with still a lot of uncertainties. Nothing is concrete yet. But we are in talks. That’s about all we can say right now,” Amir Mostafavi told us in an email.
There you have it. Something is going on with the former Greenheart locations – but exactly what remains to be seen. As we often say here on The Burn – stay tuned!
(Image at top: Greenheart Juice Shop)