Downtown's top spot to eat vegan is soon going to leave the scene soon. Kathy Iannacone, owner of Urban Fresh, says she's been telling her customers as much as possible about the restaurant's imminent closing to ease the blow.

"We’ve been telling our regular customers because we don’t want to be a shock when they come in on the 27th and we're closed," Iannacone says.

But on Friday, March 27, Urban Fresh, located at 73 E. Pennington St., will serve up its last smoothie. The restaurant specialized in vegan and raw foods with a full menu of salads, wraps and fresh juices, catering to the downtown lunch crowd. 

"Restaurants that are only open for lunch downtown have a harder time," she says, adding, "and our sourcing is expensive for a daytime lunch spot."

However, she says she doesn't feel bad about the restaurant ending. Despite the difficulties of educating while making everything from scratch, Iannacone believes she set out what she meant to do with her downtown restaurant while it was open. 

"I want to be positive about everything. I really love downtown and I love our customers," she says. "We’ve met so many great people."

Iannacone says her and her staff are ready to move on to other things. Her daughter and business partner will be moving out of the state and she plans to focus on being an integrative nutritionist and certified raw foods chef. She plans to continue teaching classes on both topics. She says she hopes other people will pick up the torch for vegan fare downtown. 

"I’m hoping in my lifetime more and more people will want to do a business like this," she says. "It’s so important."