• Ekim Burgers is closing after more than a decade due to the landlord not renewing its lease.
• Owner Ashleigh Price says she’s “gutted” after only purchasing the business six months ago.
• Price said high food prices and low foot traffic are contributing to struggles in Wellington’s hospitality sector.

A Wellington burger joint with a colourful past has announced it is closing after more than 13 years.

The owners of Ekim Burgers announced on social media that after only six months under new management, the Cuba Street site’s landlord has decided not to renew Ekim’s lease.

“Ekimburger will close for good on Monday 19th May. Our landlords, in their wisdom, have chosen not to renew our lease”, owners Ashleigh and Dion Price wrote.

“Massive thank you to those who supported our short lived venture, it was an epic ride!” the post said.

Speaking to the Herald, Ashleigh Price said they’re “gutted” to have to close.

“We bought the business in November of last year and we were really excited about it. It had sort of become quite run down, but we knew it was a Wellington icon.”

Ekim Burgers owner Ashleigh Price says she's "gutted" they've been forced to close the long-running Cuba Street business. Photo / Facebook.

Price said it was purchased “with the understanding with the landlords that we would have the lease renewed at the end of April”.

She said the pair had been working hard to turn the business around, including repainting the site’s iconic bus and making changes to the menu, but were then told recently the landlord wanted to redevelop the site, and their lease wasn’t being extended.

“They weren’t very explicit about their plans,” she said.

“We’re gutted that we weren’t given the opportunity to make a real go of it”.

Wellington saw a flurry of business closures last year, with a number of hospitality operators shutting up shop.

It includes cafes Bordeaux and Pandoro, due to economic challenges and construction disruption, as well as restaurants like Concord, and Mabel’s.

Other establishments, including Myrtle bakery and cafe, Olive, and the Hudson also closed, with their owners citing numerous factors.

Earlier this year, wine bar Plonk announced it too was shutting up shop, with the operator saying reduced foot traffic in the area was the main cause.

Thorndon restaurant Daisy’s also closed this year with the owner citing “political and economic turmoil”.

Daisy's had been operating on Tinakori Road in Thorndon for eight years. It was previously run as the Tinakori Bistro for 30 years before that. Photo / Instagram @eatatdaisys

Price said high food prices and low foot traffic are contributing to the sector’s struggles.

“Ultimately, I don’t know whether we would have made a go of it, whether the cost of produce would have failed our business anyway”, she said.

“There aren’t many people around, we know that there were a lot of job losses in Wellington. Wellington very much feels like a ghost town at the minute, it doesn’t have any vibes anymore."

The restaurant made international headlines in 2015 after an impassioned social media rant by its previous owner towards a customer complaint.

Then-owner Mike Duffy posted a woman’s private message onto the Ekim Burgers Facebook page. He later followed this with an irate post, in which he hit back at customers for their lack of respect to those in the service industry.

In 2017 Ekim hit the headlines again when a burger entry for the annual Burger Wellington competition attracted criticism for its name - the Lolita Popper.

It turned out the burger was named after the then-owner’s daughter.

Price said relocating Ekim isn’t a viable option with rents “prohibitive”.

“Honestly, the rents are crazy. We just have decided to cut our losses”.

Ethan Manera is a multimedia journalist based in Wellington. He joined NZME in 2023 and is interested in local issues, politics and property in the capital. Ethan is always on the lookout for a story and can be emailed at [email protected].