On one of a string of day expected to climb into the 90s, soup is probably the last thing you feel like eating — unless its gazpacho. But wait six months, and you may find yourself longing for a bracing bowl of Hale & Hearty‘s Classic Chicken Noodle or its Chili Mac & Cheese. But neither will be there to warm the cockles. On Monday, the soup and sandwich chain closed all 16 of its stores in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Long Island, inexplicably and without warning. The chain’s website is still up and running, but that’s usually the last vestige of a restaurant to give up the ghost after its closure.
As to why Hale & Hearty closed so suddenly, WABC in New York reports that “one branch in Lower Manhattan was recently sued by a food vendor for unpaid invoices, and by its landlord for unpaid rent.” Whether that is the reason for the chain’s abrupt vanishing act, and whether any or all of the stores may return is anybody’s guess.
