Schenectady vegan restaurant, arcade announces closure

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — An arcade, bar, and restaurant on Clinton Street in Schenectady is closing down after three years. UnBEETable, known as one of the first all-vegan restaurants in Schenectady, will close on October 18, as announced in a social media post on Wednesday.

Officials with UnBEETable said the decision to close comes after numerous long shifts that start at 6 a.m. and don’t wrap up until 9:30 p.m. or later. In the social media statement from the restaurant, owner Chelsea Heilmann said the long hours of running UnBEETable and another business have started to impact her happiness, personal life, personal goals, and enjoyment of other great opportunities in life.

“I don’t want this to discourage anyone from opening a business, especially a vegan one,” Heilmann said. “Unbeetable is a smashing success and we created something utterly unique. If it wasn’t, we would have had to close our doors a long time ago.”

Heilmann said the restaurant, bar, and arcade served the Schenectady community with a place to go on dates, catch up with friends, and be introduced to vegan cuisine. She also said it’s great to take risks, try something new, and change paths.

“Honestly, I think that a lot of people struggle with the same thing that I’m doing,” Heilmann said. “They sometimes get stuck or they feel they need to stay in places, relationships, jobs, or anything like that because it’s something that they started or they owe it to something, but I think that it’s okay to change and grow and do new things that make you passionate.”