“We’re grappling with the impact of inflation,” Wrin Piper said. “Our local farms are raising their prices. We’re experiencing the same pressures on every part of our supply chain that people are [experiencing] in their daily lives. . . . We simply can’t keep up with inflationary pressures.”
Clover management had hoped to find a buyer that could keep some or all of the business going, but many of the potential acquirers face the same macroeconomic headwinds. In March, Clover informed state officials that the company was at risk of closing on May 29 if a new buyer couldn’t be found. Last Friday, employees were given the bad news that a deal could not be consummated.
“We had many positive conversations,” Wrin Piper said of the discussions with possible buyers. “Ultimately, they’re dealing with the same pressures we are as a standalone company.”
Founder Ayr Muir launched Clover Food Lab in October 2008 as a food truck at MIT, where he got his master’s degree in materials science in 2001 before going on to study at Harvard Business School. His goal was to come up with vegetable-based recipes that meat lovers would like, to broaden the potential audience beyond vegetarians, with an eye toward sustainability. Under Muir’s leadership over the following decade, Clover shifted from food trucks to brick-and-mortar shops, supported by a Cambridge commissary.
Muir ended up leaving the company in the fall of 2023, shortly before Clover filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, following a poorly timed effort to open a new commissary in Hyde Park and a slowdown in foot traffic brought about by remote work trends during the COVID-19 pandemic.
For a while, it looked like the chain had a new lease on life after emerging successfully from an expedited bankruptcy the following year.
Clover, which is owned by a group of individual investors, started talking about expanding again after bankruptcy, with an ambitious goal of opening up to 50 new locations around New England over five years. All the remaining stores soon turned a profit.
Sales at shops open for at least a year rose 8 percent, on average, last year compared to 2024. Through it all, Clover maintained an important commitment: Wrin Piper says about 80 percent of the food sold at Clover is made from locally sourced ingredients, primarily from New England farms.
But the good times didn’t last. Though an issue for several years, inflation significantly ate away at revenue and drove up expenses earlier this year, roughly around the time that the United States and Israel began the war with Iran, causing oil prices to shoot up, Wrin Piper said. Most of Clover’s ingredients, she added, cost 30 to 50 percent more than two years ago.
Wrin Piper said Clover’s struggles illustrate the challenges of relying on local food sources without government contracts or other subsidies to help defray the costs.
“Clover is a very special place,” Wrin Piper said. “You’ll never find a more standup group of mission-driven, smart people. . . . We worked elbow to elbow with each other. We really enjoyed bringing joy to Boston, to our customers.”
Jon Chesto can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @jonchesto.
