Hamburger Project, a trendy San Francisco burger spot in the Mission District, has closed its doors, just months after a viral photo showing raw hamburger patties and a jar of mayonnaise sitting on a hot sidewalk outside the restaurant drew widespread disgust online.
Co-owner Tan Truong offered a brief explanation for the closure. "We simply weren't getting the traction needed at that location," he said. But the timeline tells a fuller story, one of food-safety controversy, a co-founder's messy public exit, and a cursed address that has chewed through restaurants for years.
The restaurant, located at the corner of Guerrero and 18th streets at 598 Guerrero Street, had drawn attention well before it went dark. The New York Post reported that a delivery driver left four thick rolls of raw hamburger meat and a large jar of mayonnaise outside the restaurant in extreme heat because no one was there to accept the shipment. The driver's text message, shown in reporting on the incident, read simply: "Hiiii, I don't have time."
The photo went viral. Raw ground beef and mayonnaise left out in extreme heat can become unsafe to eat in less than one hour. For a restaurant selling burgers to paying customers, the image was devastating.
Truong told the San Francisco Chronicle that the restaurant had run low on beef due to high demand during that period and that he was on a plane back to San Francisco when the delivery arrived. He acknowledged the optics were bad.
"It's a horrible image to have ground beef sitting on the sidewalk, but we have protocols against using products like that, and we definitely do not condone leaving it outside like that."
The owners posted a response on Instagram, insisting they had disposed of the product immediately. "Obviously we disposed of the product as soon as we found it. We appreciate the community's vigilance and continued support," the post read. They said they had updated their delivery procedures going forward.
Whether any health agency or regulator took action over the incident remains unclear from available reporting. No government enforcement action was cited. The restaurant's assurances were its own.
The sidewalk meat was not the only controversy dogging Hamburger Project. Co-founder Chef Geoffrey Lee had already become a liability before the closure.
After influencer Kat Ensign posted a negative review of the restaurant, Lee responded with insulting messages. Those messages were then shared online by a person identified as Maggie Z, amplifying the backlash. As criticism grew, Lee was removed as executive chef. He stepped down not just from Hamburger Project but also from Ju-Ni and Hand Roll Project, three restaurants in total.
The broader restaurant industry has seen growing customer backlash over declining quality and poor experiences. But Hamburger Project's troubles were more specific: a co-founder who couldn't handle a bad review and a delivery process that left raw meat cooking on a sidewalk.
The combination proved fatal for a business that needed foot traffic and public trust to survive in one of America's most expensive restaurant markets.
Hamburger Project may not deserve all the blame for its failure. The location itself has a grim track record. A KQED investigation found that restaurants at 598 Guerrero Street have repeatedly opened and closed in short order. Ebb & Flow and AL's Deli both lasted only months at the same address.
The building's history stretches back further than anyone's lease. In the 1800s, a psychic named Mrs. C. Mayo-Steers reportedly held séances at the site. Staff at later businesses reported flickering lights and moving objects. Whether the location is haunted or simply cursed by bad foot traffic and tough economics, the result has been the same: one shuttered restaurant after another.
Hamburger Project's closure fits a pattern that extends well beyond one San Francisco intersection. Across the country, customers have named the restaurants they say aren't worth the money anymore, and the complaints often center on the same things, quality, trust, and value for the dollar.
In California especially, the restaurant business has become a gauntlet. A Carl's Jr. franchisee operating 65 California restaurants filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy recently, and a Hardee's franchisee collapse shut 77 restaurants across nine states after its own bankruptcy filing. The pressures facing burger brands, from labor costs to regulatory burdens to simple consumer confidence, are real and mounting.
Eater SF first reported the closure. But key details remain thin. No exact closure date has been published. It is unclear whether the shutdown is permanent or whether the owners plan to reopen elsewhere.
There is also no public record, at least in available reporting, of any health department investigation tied to the sidewalk delivery incident. The restaurant said it threw the meat away. Customers are left to take that claim on faith.
The broader question, whether the viral photo drove customers away or merely confirmed doubts that were already building, has no clean answer. Truong pointed to a lack of traction at the location. But traction is hard to build when a photo of your raw product baking on a public sidewalk is circulating online.
Even major national chains like Wendy's have left customers uncertain as locations close. For a small, independent burger joint already battling bad press and a co-founder scandal, the math was never going to work.
San Francisco has spent years making it harder for small businesses to survive, through regulation, through cost, through a public environment that tests the patience of owners and customers alike. When the basics break down and raw meat sits on a hot sidewalk with nobody inside to care, the city's problems aren't abstract anymore. They're right there on the concrete, in the sun, for everyone to see.