A San Francisco burger restaurant has closed just six months after opening, only weeks after a photograph of raw ground beef sitting outside the business sparked a social-media backlash. The short-lived location joins the growing list of restaurant closures that have shocked customers across America.
Hamburger Project permanently closed its Mission District restaurant at 598 Guerrero Street on April 19. The smashburger spot had opened in October 2025, replacing another restaurant operated by the same ownership group.
Although the closure followed the widely discussed raw-beef incident, co-owner Tan Truong said the restaurant’s underlying problem was a lack of business.
“We simply weren’t getting the traction needed at that location,” Truong told Eater San Francisco.
A delivery created a disturbing image
The controversy began in late March, when a Reddit user posted a photograph showing four packages of raw ground beef and a large container of mayonnaise sitting on the sidewalk outside Hamburger Project.
The delivery arrived during a stretch of unusually warm weather while no employees were inside to accept it. According to Truong, the delivery driver could not enter the restaurant and left the products outside.
The driver reportedly sent a photograph confirming the delivery along with a message saying there was no time to wait.
The image quickly spread across social media, where customers raised concerns about whether the meat might eventually be served. One Reddit user claimed the packages remained outside for approximately an hour, although the exact length of time was not independently confirmed.
Hamburger Project acknowledged that the delivery had been left unattended but said employees immediately threw everything away.
The restaurant explained that the meat was clearly compromised because it had been left on the ground without proper temperature control. Management also said it updated its delivery procedures to prevent a similar incident.
Truong emphasized that the restaurant had protocols prohibiting employees from using products handled under those conditions.
The restaurant struggled to build momentum
Hamburger Project opened the Mission District location in the former home of Handroll Project, a Japanese restaurant from the same business group.
The switch brought the owners’ smashburger concept to a second San Francisco neighborhood. Hamburger Project’s original restaurant opened on Divisadero Street in December 2024 and reportedly sold more than 1,000 burgers during its first two days.
The Guerrero Street restaurant never developed the same momentum.
Its closure came less than a month after the raw-beef photograph went viral, but the owners did not directly blame the controversy for the decision. Instead, Truong said the location had failed to attract enough customers to remain viable.
The timing nevertheless ensured that the restaurant’s six-month run would be remembered partly for the disturbing sidewalk photograph.
The original Hamburger Project remains open
The closure does not mean Hamburger Project has gone completely out of business.
Its original location at 808 Divisadero Street remains open, serving the thin, crispy-edged smashburgers that initially generated excitement around the concept.
Only the Mission District restaurant has closed.
For the Guerrero Street space, the shutdown continues a long history of turnover. Before Hamburger Project and Handroll Project, the prominent corner had housed restaurants including Al’s Deli and Izakaya Yuzuki.
Hamburger Project became the latest business unable to make the location work—and did so after one of the shortest and most controversial runs.
Links on this page may be affiliate links, for which the site earns a small commission, but the price for you is the same
Leave a Comment