Laziz Kitchen, the Mediterranean restaurant that’s been a fixture in Salt Lake City’s Central 9th neighborhood for a decade, is closing in September — but not by owner Derek Kitchen’s choice.

Kitchen, a former Salt Lake City council member and Utah state senator, announced on Laziz’s social media accounts Thursday that the restaurant at 912 S. Jefferson St. will close after service on Sept. 20.

“Unfortunately, our landlord here has refused to offer us a new lease,” Kitchen said in a video, adding that the restaurant has spent “the better part of the summer” trying to negotiate.

“For small businesses, when you don’t own your building, you don’t have a say in [your] destiny sometimes,” Kitchen said.

The Laziz brand will not be going away, Kitchen said. The company recently opened a stall in the Sugar House Station food hall, at 2155 S. Highland Drive in Salt Lake City. And Laziz’s catering business will continue, he said.

Laziz also packages its hummus and other dips for retail sale; they can be found in such stores as Harmons and Caputo’s Market & Deli.

Kitchen said in the video that Laziz “will continue to look for opportunities” to reopen somewhere along 900 South, also known as Harvey Milk Boulevard.

He called Central 9th “a neighborhood we are totally invested in.” When Laziz opened in 2016, he said, “there was nothing around here. We had a coffee shop, and that’s about it. Now, if you look at it, we’ve got a half dozen or so restaurants. We’ve got bars. We’ve built out incredible bike lanes and new parking. … It’s just blossomed in the last 10 years.”

Kitchen and his then-boyfriend, Moudi Sbeity, launched the Laziz brand in 2012, making food based on Sbeity’s Lebanese heritage. They sold hummus and other dips at the Downtown Farmers Market. They opened the restaurant in Central 9th in 2016.

During Laziz’s early years, Kitchen and Sbeity also were among the plaintiffs in a landmark case — Kitchen v. Herbert — that legalized same-sex marriage in Utah in December 2013, more than a year before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down bans on gay unions nationwide. Laziz sold T-shirts saying “hummusexual” to raise money for legal fees in the case.

Kitchen and Sbeity married in May 2015, and that year Kitchen was elected to the Salt Lake City Council. In 2018, Kitchen won a seat in the Utah State Senate, but he was defeated for reelection in 2022. Kitchen and Sbeity divorced in 2019.

Laziz opened a location in Midvale in May 2022, but closed it in December 2024. The company also opened a downtown Salt Lake City location in fall 2022, but closed it last October.

Before Laziz Kitchen closes on Central 9th, the restaurant will throw a birthday party for itself, marking what it calls “10 years of hummusexuality.” The event will run Sunday, Aug. 30, from noon to 8 p.m. at the restaurant, and will feature Laziz’s food, desserts from RubySnap and Sweet Hazel & Co., and a chance to pre-order Sbeity’s upcoming memoir.