Shannon Martinez knows what’s up.

“I’m not going out and spending money. No one’s going out and spending money,” the chef and owner of the trailblazing vegan restaurant Smith & Daughters tells Broadsheet.

So she’s changing things up at the now 10-year-old venue. “It’s that or close,” she says. “It’s another pivot that we have to make because you can’t continually force something upon people when they just can’t do it.”

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On Thursday August 8, the Collingwood restaurant will become Smith & Daughters Social Club. They’re abandoning the set menu and making way for a tight offering that’s “heavy on the snacks”. The vibe will be more casual and throw back to previous iterations of the restaurant, which originally opened on Brunswick Street, Fitzroy (where Kushiro is now), before it moved to Cambridge Street in 2021.

“It was raucous … it was heaving,” Martinez says of the restaurant’s early days. She hopes to recapture that energy and spirit with this new direction. “Smith & Daughters was never the place where you’d come for a special occasion. I never wanted that, but we’re bringing [the casual vibe] back – I want everyone to be able to come here.”

The concept is largely inspired by the Melbourne Spanish social clubs Martinez visited growing up, an idea that was “very nostalgic” for her. “I love that it’s a place where you can sort of go in there and generally find someone. And that’s what I want this to be: a drop-in where you can come and you can find your people.”

She wants people to stop in for after-work drinks and snacks, swing by and pre-game before going out, and come for dinner and stay a while.

The change is a response to the economic times, as well as a reaction to the success of the $40 pasta nights Martinez has been holding on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for the past six weeks. The team did 90 covers this past Tuesday night and “that was all the proof I needed to do what I’m about to do”, she says.

“My main focus for this change is to give people value for money, freedom to come whenever they want to, but also, food wise, I’m bringing a bit of influence back in from some of the old dishes that were iconic to old Smith & Daughters but giving them a bit of a tweak.”

Along with recently promoted head chef Sean Mears, Martinez is re-introducing revamped hits. The corndogs that the team used to offer, for example, are making a comeback. This time they’ll boast house-made frankfurts, served with a fermented curry ketchup and pickled mustard seeds.

Martinez says the social club concept also lends itself to opening the kitchen and inviting other chefs to “come and play” for collabs. “I love bringing my friends in here who, notoriously, are not vegan chefs.”

Some of the cocktails, including the Native Old Fashioned, will remain, but others will be nixed to make way for “playful, more fun” drinks.

While hospo is suffering, Martinez says the success of the pasta nights are proof that people still want to come out. “They still want to get together with their friends and have a great time – just without spending 200 bucks.”

Smith & Daughters will relaunch as Smith & Daughters Social Club on Thursday August 8.