Chicken sandwich chain Mt. Joy once had hopes of 1,000 locations — its Capitol Hill flagship is now ‘temporarily closed’

(Image: Mt. Joy)

Whatever is going on with the chicken sandwich shop experiment in food and drink capitalism that is Mt. Joy, its original Capitol Hill location has been shuttered and has been listed as “temporarily closed” in online searches.

Messages to the three-year-old sustainable chicken sandwich venture have gone unanswered — though it isn’t clear which entrepreneur CHS should be dogging.

The food start-up’s social media hasn’t been updated since June. That’s when the state’s business licensing paperwork also shifted control of the 11th Ave restaurant to a new corporate entity under Daniel Brawer, founder of the Conscious Hospitality Group.

The quiet changes and silent shutdown are a major shift from the much-hyped launch of Mt. Joy.

CHS broke the news in December of 2022 on tech investor Robbie Cape’s plans to team up with prolific Capitol Hill and Seattle-wide restaurateur Ethan Stowell to launch Mt. Joy at 11th and Pine in a portion of the space formerly home to the massive Stout Pub with the first of what they said they said would hatch into a 1,000 or more location chain.

The first Mt. Joy finally opened at 11th and Pine in late 2023. A second followed in South Lake Union. There hasn’t been a third.

11th and Pine had also been lined up to be home to a new location of the national Sweetgreen salad chain — a project delayed for years coming out of the 2020 protests and the pandemic. CHS headlined its story about the plans for Sweetgreen, “CHOP salad.” The combination of Mt. Joy and Sweetgreen — including its “Infinite Kitchen technology” and automated salad chutes — made this stretch of 11th a little pocket of new era fast food.

Just over three years after its opening, it is not clear what the ownership mix is at Mt. Joy but licenses and permits point back to the Conscious Hospitality Group, an investment group based, apparently, on Mercer Island and currently with its thumbs in a surprisingly robust roster of restaurants and cafe concepts including Just Poké, Sugo Handroll Bar, Matcha Magic, KODE Pizza, Club Seltzer, EatDirt , Sano, and Hap’s Burgers & Taps. You can find a Just Poke on Broadway and a Matcha Magic outlet opened on 11th Ave next to Mt. Joy.

“We are committed to incubating and scaling purpose-driven concepts through strategic capital, connections, and infrastructure support,” the Conscious pitch goes. “Our new brand, symbolized by a cloud logo, embodies our dedication to health, sustainability, integrity, and mindfulness.”

As for those Mt. Joy chicken sandwiches — and the mushroom sandwiches that reportedly were one of the great late night vegetarian eats on Capitol Hill — it looks like Conscious Hospitality Group has had a change in plans about 11th Ave and the future of the chain. The Mt. Joy in South Lake Union is also shuttered.

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