Save On Meats temporarily closing in September

Save On Meats will be closing its doors—temporarily. The historic Downtown Eastside diner announced today (August 26) via its social media channels that the closure will happen on September 2.

“Due to circumstances out of our control, but firmly in our landlords, we will have to close the diner TEMPORARILY on September 2^nd,” Mark Brand, owner of the Save On Meats and several other Gastown restaurants, posted on Instagram and Twitter earlier in the day. “Im having the same feeling in my gut as sending a child to camp (or how it's been described to me). I hope they learn something to come back better. I hope they catch a few scrapes but nothing that will leave permanent damage.”

We have a firm temporary closure date for @SAVEONMEATS diner. September 2. The landlord has massive work to do.

— Mark Brand MB Inc. (@eastvanbrand) August 26, 2013

Brand’s message was met with curiosity and concern by Vancouver diners. An hour following his troublesome Instagram post, Brand followed up by tweeting, “Temporary! We’ll be back!”

While Brand and employees of Save On Meats will not be speaking with media until Wednesday (August 28), Brand continued to update the public on the restaurant’s status through social media.

The Sandwich Window will REMAIN OPEN during this time to ensure the continued success of the token program and hungry patrons!

— Mark Brand MB Inc. (@eastvanbrand) August 26, 2013

“The Sandwich Window will REMAIN OPEN during this time to ensure the continued success of the token program and hungry patrons,” Brand Tweeted two hours after his original post, which claimed that more than 30,000 tokens for the diner’s Sandwich Token Program had been distributed.

While Save On Meats’ Facebook page had been quiet since August 21, staff posted a message and photo at around 4 p.m.  today indicating that the restaurant would be closed for renovations and reopen after 12 weeks. That Facebook post was subsequently deleted.