On May 26, Clover Food Lab announced it would close its doors in two days. People showed up in droves, traveled near and far for one last popover, and one person even wrote a four-minute tribute song. Less than one week later, Clover announced it is not closing after all, thanks to a new investor.
The company said in a press release Wednesday, June 3 that it received nearly 500 responses to its “Share a memory” form and even had someone bike around Cambridge to visit as many locations as she could.
“It was overwhelming to see the kind of love and support that came out from the community,” Clover CEO Julia Wrin Piper said in an interview.
Clover will reopen its Cambridge and Boston locations for lunch service on June 9 with breakfast service resuming on June 10.
The company initially warned its staff and customers on March 30 that Clover would shut down by June if it did not find an investor. “It’s incredibly important to me and the team to operate responsibly” and without a clear path forward, “you have to wind down,” said Wrin Piper.
Although Clover’s reopening announcement cited community support as the reason for the last minute deal, the company has been in talks with several investors throughout the sale period and this investment closed as quickly as time and negotiations allowed on Friday, Wrin Piper said.
“Being a brand that customers love never hurts when talking with investors,” Wrin Paper added.
Clover is unable to disclose the investor’s identity and amount put into the chain, per the terms of the deal.
“We’re really fortunate to have aligned with an investor who believes deeply in Clover’s mission,” Wrin Piper said.
The investment, however, is “allowing us to restart really quickly, even though we’re still putting some of the details of the plan in place,” said Wrin Piper. The company has already restarted its partnerships with local farms to replenish its food supply ahead of next week’s reopening.
The company has yet to determine which locations will remain open permanently and how many employees will keep their jobs. Wrin Piper promised to share Clover’s solidified plan with employees and customers as soon as possible.
But, Clover has decided to close its 10,000 square foot commissary in East Cambridge and transition all preparatory cooking to be done at each restaurant instead. Whether or not the commissary employees will transition to restaurant roles is not yet clear.
However, the reason Clover closed in the first place hasn’t changed. “Inflationary pressures on our industry remain an issue,” the chain wrote in an email to Cambridge Day.
The company’s closure was not its first bout with financial instability. In November 2023, Clover filed Chapter 1, Subchapter 5 bankruptcy — established in 2020 for small business restructuring when consumer and real estate markets changed — to overhaul operations. The chain exited bankruptcy in April 2024 with 13 locations and the goal of operating 60 locations by 2029.
On March 30, the company warned its staff and customers Clover would shut down by June if it did not find an investor.
Now, Clover is “hard on implementing operational changes to ensure [its] financial sustainability,” the company told Cambridge Day.
It noted that its customers can play a part in its future success by providing feedback on its food — good or bad — telling a friend about Clover, or bringing them to a location.
“Everyone makes about a dozen choices about their food every single day,” Wrin Piper said. “For people to choose us over and over for 17 years … is an incredible gift.”
This story was updated to add comment from Clover’s CEO, Julia Wrin Piper.
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Clover is “hard on implementing operational changes to ensure [its] financial sustainability,”
ummmm…..what?