Melbourne restaurants: Shanuka Fernando’s iconic Lentil as Anything to close

For 21 years, this restaurant chain has offered a unique business model where you paid what you could for a feed — but all good things must come to an end.

An attempt to raise money for Lentil as Anything failed to raise enough money to keep the wolves from the door. Picture: Craig Wilson

Pay-as-you-can restaurant charity Lentil As Anything will close its doors at the end of the month, after failing to raise enough money to keep its three Melbourne venue’s afloat.

“It breaks my heart,” founder Shanuka Fernando said in a statement this week.

The popular vegan restaurant chain, which was the subject of a FairWork investigation in 2020 for underpaying staff, cited the pandemic for its financial difficulties.

A GoFundMe page hoped to raise $400,000 but raised just $3555.

Beginning in St Kilda 21 years ago, Lentil As Anything expanded to Abbotsford and Thornbury, as well as Sydney’s Newtown, which closed last month.

Mr Fernando, who in 2007 was named Australian Local Hero in the Australian of the Year awards, said that backpackers and university students made up about 70 per cent of his clientele.

It has also been reported that Lentil As Anything had recently missed deadlines with the Australian Charities and Not For Profits regulators.

In a video, Mr Fernando said, “Some years ago I had a dream just to provide food to people without them having to worry about money”.

“I dearly hope that in some way our values and our practices will continue in society.”

It is understood that 12 people are set to lose their jobs across the three venues.