Tucson is losing one of its oldest vegan restaurants when Lovin' Spoonfuls Vegan Restaurant and Bakery closes at the end of business Saturday.
The move comes three years after the current owners, Juan Irais Benavides and Michelle Benavides, took over the restaurant at 2990 N. Campbell Ave. that Sunny Anne Holliday opened in 2005 when she went by the name Margaret “Peggy” Raisglid.
“The economy is ridiculous right now, and everything's so expensive, and it is just not sustainable,” Juan Benavides said Tuesday morning, hours after he announced the closure on Instagram Monday night. “You know, that's what it comes down to.”
Benavides said the writing has been on the wall for months as the restaurant struggled to meet payroll and food costs and keep up with rent and paying sales taxes. When the restaurant fell behind on sales tax payments last summer, the couple launched a GoFundMe campaign with a goal to raise $75,000; as of Tuesday, the campaign raised $27,900, which Benavides said helped the couple catch up on the debt.
“The community did come through. We felt the love and support, and they helped,” he said. “But honestly, it only helped to prolong it a little bit longer.”
Lovin’ Spoonfuls’ story is one that is all too familiar in not only the Tucson restaurant industry but restaurants nationwide in recent years: Costs have outpaced revenues and diners will only tolerate so much when it comes to raising prices.
“You can only do it so much, you know, before people just don't like that,” Benavides said. “Obviously, it's not the customers' fault, either.”
Benavides said he has seen his food costs double and triple since prices surged in late 2025, which the restaurant platform MarginEdge largely attributed to supply issues and weather. MarginEdge tracks costs across more than 10,000 locations in the U.S. and Canada.
Customers in the dining room at Lovin’ Spoonfuls Tuesday. The restaurant and bakery opened in 2005 will close for good on Saturday.
Prices fluctuated by triple digits, especially when it came to produce grown in California, which was hammered in 2025 with heavy rains and freezes, according to the report. Lettuce jumped 130% and cauliflower, a staple of vegan fare, spiked 230%, which MarginEdge said was the largest shift of any single ingredient.
“Cauliflower for a case of 12 heads used to be $15, $20,” Benavidas said. “Now we’re paying $60.”
The cost of tomatoes also spiked, from $15 to $20 for a 25-pound case to as much as $50, he said.
“We don't have the resources for that, unfortunately,” he said.
Walking away from Lovin’ Spoonfuls is tough for Benavides, who first started working there as a line cook under founder Holliday. He spent three or four years on the job before leaving to pursue other opportunities.
He returned years later to help run the business for May Gilley, who bought the restaurant in 2016 and kept it afloat during the pandemic.
“I worked for her for like two years, and then she was in the same spot: she was ready to close it,” he said.
By then, Benavides said he had fallen in love with the restaurant and its staff, many of whom had been working there for years.
“Our prep cook, he's been here since the beginning, from the original owner. Day one,” he said. “And the server, Melody, she's been here 12 years, I think. So it felt more like a family. It felt right.”
The Wildcat burger at Lovin’ Spoonfuls.
But three years in, Benavides now finds himself in the same position as Gilley.
“I try to make it work. I have put everything that I had into the business,” he said. “But it's OK. I have no regrets. I did it because I love the business and our mission and what we do here. That's why I did it. I have no regrets whatsoever.”
Lovin’ Spoonfuls will be open regular hours through Saturday.
