Strong Hearts to close after 18 years of maintaining ‘vegan ethics’
Customers enjoy their drinks and wait in line at Strong Hearts Cafe's Syracuse location. Founded in 2008, the vegan eatery will close both of its locations, one in Syracuse and one in Buffalo, later this month. Charlie Hynes | Staff Photographer
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Before trying Strong Hearts Cafe’s food, Nick Cavanaugh didn’t think he was cut out for a fully vegan lifestyle. He dabbled with meat substitutes here and there, but it wasn’t until he ventured to Strong Hearts Cafe in Syracuse that he thought it could be possible.
“I remember trying the Thai tofu salad, and I was hooked,” Cavanaugh said. “The food itself was great, but the environment it cultivated was what had me coming back.”
Cavanaugh’s experience at the cafe isn’t completely unusual; for nearly two decades, Strong Hearts planted itself in Syracuse as a home for vegan comfort food, milkshakes and the community that grew around them.
Now, the cafe is preparing to close both of its locations in Syracuse and Buffalo later this month. The Buffalo location is set to close Saturday, while the Syracuse location at 315 Irving Ave. will close July 18.
“This was one of the most difficult decisions for us to make, but after 18 years, there isn’t a way to move forward,” said Strong Hearts co-owner Nick Ryan.
In an Instagram post announcing the closure on June 29, Strong Hearts’ owners said the decision followed several years of financial, staffing and other challenges. The post thanked customers for nearly two decades of support and said the choice to close wasn’t made lightly.
With over 9,000 likes and 1,400 comments on the post, the public showed Strong Hearts’ impact on the community. Many customers shared their memories of meals, friendships and moments at the cafe over the years.
Co-founded by Joel Capolongo and Ryan in 2008, Strong Hearts began as a small vegan cafe on East Genesee Street before relocating to its current spot on Irving Avenue in 2020. In 2022, the restaurant expanded to Buffalo.
The cafe quickly became known for menu items like vegan macaroni and cheese, fried “chicken,” Reuben sandwiches, burgers, tofu scrambles and its 45 milkshake flavors like peach cobbler and pumpkin espresso. But all of the items follow one common theme: they don’t contain meat or dairy.
Strong Hearts Cafe’s Syracuse location started as a small spot on East Genesee Street in 2008 before relocating to Irving Avenue in 2020. Known for its vegan comfort food options, the cafe will close both the Syracuse and Buffalo locations this month. Charlie Hynes | Staff Photographer
Strong Hearts isn’t just a vegan restaurant, but a community gathering space, regardless of the occasion, longtime customer Tara Smith said.
Smith, who works and lives in Syracuse, said she isn’t a vegan, but Strong Hearts changed her perspective on vegan food. Before visiting the cafe, she was unaware how accessible and familiar plant-based meals could feel.
“Strong Hearts exposed me to what vegan food really can be, not what is just on the internet,” Smith said.
Now, her go-to order is one of the cafe’s best-known items: a dairy-free milkshake. She usually chooses chocolate peanut butter after a long shift, one of the many flavors that made Strong Hearts a local staple.
Smith also noticed how much the restaurant meant to the local community. Whether customers were vegan or not, she said Strong Hearts was a place people knew, recommended and continually supported.
Before coming to Syracuse to live with his aunt in 2014, Cavanaugh tried to follow vegan meal plans for his health, but the limitations made it difficult to adopt. While in Syracuse until 2017, frequent visits to the cafe helped him figure out how he could enjoy what he wanted and stay vegan, too.
Cavanaugh did become vegan four years ago, and he credited Strong Hearts for playing a role in the change. The restaurant showed him that vegan food could be filling, flavorful and built around comfort food, not just limited options.
Strong Hearts is one of many central New York small businesses to close in the last two years, Cavanaugh said. Losing the cafe means losing a place that helped shape people’s routines, diets and their understanding of the food scene across the state.
It also helped expand what vegan food could look like in Syracuse. Rather than centering its menu on limited plant-based options, the cafe served comfort food that appealed to everyone. The restaurant describes itself as being built on “the vegan ethics of animal, earth, and human liberation,” according to its website.
In recent Instagram posts, Strong Hearts’ owners highlighted the financial pressures behind running both cafes. In one post from the Buffalo location’s account, @stronghearts716, the store said the price of a 25-pound case of tomatoes rose from $25 last year to $90 this year. The rising expenses made staying open increasingly difficult for both storefronts.
When Strong Hearts closes later this month, Syracuse will lose more than a longtime cafe, Cavanaugh said. It will lose a place where customers found comfort.
“It is sad to see, but Strong Hearts is just one of the many places, vegan or not, to close across the state,” Cavanaugh said. “We are losing the important spaces that have brought us together.”
