According to the San Diego County Department of Environmental Health and Quality, the Breakfast Republic located at 707 G Street was ordered closed on December 16, 2025, following a routine inspection that uncovered multiple serious violations. Chief among them was a major vermin infestation, a designation reserved for the most severe and immediate public health risks. Inspectors also cited out-of-compliance conditions involving nonfood contact surfaces, improper equipment and utensil storage, and deteriorating floors, walls, and ceilings - a cluster of failures pointing to systemic sanitation breakdown rather than a one-off lapse.
The East Village shutdown marks yet another forced closure for the Rise & Shine Hospitality Group concept, adding to a growing list of Breakfast Republic locations that have either been shuttered outright or temporarily closed due to health violations, operational failures, or both. The closure comes just two months after county inspectors ordered the original North Park Breakfast Republic closed - also for major vermin - and follows a November 2024 health-related shutdown for major vermin at a location in Pacific Beach.
Once touted as one of San Diego’s great dining success stories, Breakfast Republic rose rapidly after launching in North Park in 2015 under restaurateur Johan Engman, ballooning into a multi-city brunch empire fueled by aggressive expansion, heavy branding, and viral-friendly menu items. But as the footprint grew, so did the cracks. Over the past two years alone, Breakfast Republic locations in Hillcrest, Carmel Valley, and La Jolla, while other Rise & Shine concepts - including Fig Tree Café (Mission Valley), El Jardin and Como Ceviche, - quietly disappeared from the map.
The East Village closure is especially damaging given the neighborhood’s already volatile restaurant landscape, where high rents, crime concerns, and staffing challenges have made operational discipline essential. Instead, inspectors found conditions severe enough to warrant an immediate shutdown - a decision that health officials do not take lightly.
The recurring vermin citations have become particularly difficult for the company to explain away. A “major” vermin violation is not the result of a single oversight or missed cleaning shift; it reflects evidence of active infestation that poses a direct threat to food safety. When such violations appear repeatedly across multiple locations, health experts say it raises questions about training, oversight, and whether corporate growth has outpaced operational control.
Despite the mounting closures and health department actions, neither Rise & Shine Hospitality Group nor Johan Engman has publicly addressed the East Village shutdown as of publication. The company has increasingly opted for silence as locations close, a stark contrast to the high-profile marketing blitzes that once accompanied each new opening.
What was once sold as a playful, elevated brunch brand promising a “better breakfast” has instead become a case study in overexpansion, declining standards, and regulatory intervention. For diners, the message from county inspectors has been unambiguous: conditions inside the East Village Breakfast Republic were serious enough to warrant locking the doors.
And for San Diego’s restaurant scene, the latest shutdown reinforces an uncomfortable reality - Breakfast Republic’s troubles are no longer isolated incidents. They are a pattern.
Originally published on December 17, 2025.
