Modern Times Café to close by year-end, owner says

Modern Times Café owner Dylan Alverson says the Minneapolis restaurant will close by the end of 2026, ending nearly 16 years in business after he exhausted options for keeping it operating without compromising its principles. Alverson announced the planned closure in a social media post. He said he had spent six years trying to prove the café could continue and planned to use the remaining two months to celebrate its history and discuss how similar businesses might continue. The restaurant’s final closing has not yet occurred. In January 2026, Alverson changed the café’s name to Post Modern Times and replaced fixed menu prices with a free and donation-based model. He said the change was a protest against federal immigration enforcement operations and barred Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from the restaurant. The café operated without set prices for about six months, then closed temporarily in July. When it reopened in August, it restored menu prices while continuing to offer 25 free meals daily. Alverson later described the operation as running at a zero profit margin. Alverson has not directly blamed the free-meal experiment for the closure. In comments to Fox...