Lisa Vanderpump and her husband Ken Todd said farewell to their beloved restaurant Pump during Vanderpump Rules Season 11, but Lisa shared on the Season 12 premiere that she’s still not over the loss — especially now that she’s facing financial struggles in all of her restaurants, including SUR.
“I already made the decision to say goodbye to one baby. I’m not gonna do it again,” Lisa declared during the Dec. 2 episode.
As fans surely recall, Lisa and Ken opened Pump with an opulent party back in Season 3, and the restaurant has been the scene of many iconic moments since then, including the introduction of the now-famous “Pumptini.” It also hosted multiple gay pride celebrations over the years, and memorably, The Valley’s Tom Schwartz briefly tried his hand at tending the lavish bar. However, Lisa admitted on the Vanderpump Rules Season 12 premiere that everything changed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As she put it, “West Hollywood was the center of the nightlife in Los Angeles. But since COVID, it never seemed to recover.”
Later, Lisa was brutally honest with her staff at SUR about the challenges facing restaurants, and why many like Pump are forced to close their doors.
“Restaurant costs are up. Many restaurants close down. Four in the last week have closed down,” she said. “Nobody is surviving this s—t. This is survival of the fittest.”
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Why did Lisa Vanderpump close her restaurant, Pump?
Pump’s team released a statement announcing its closure in May 2023, after ten years in business. Lisa later explained the reason for the closure in a confessional interview on Vanderpump Rules Season 11, saying, “It’s bittersweet, but the rent’s going up, and it’s going to be exponentially more expensive.”
Pump’s former landlord later made claims that “he hadn’t raised the rent,” Andy Cohen pointed out to Lisa during Part 1 of the Season 11 reunion, but Lisa dispelled that.
“Well then, we’ll go back,” she replied with a sarcastic laugh, and added, “That’s not true.”
Another factor in Pump’s closure? Ken wanted to retire. As Lisa put it, “If we take it on for another ten years, that means Ken will still be stomping the pavements of West Hollywood when he’ll be in his 80s.
Lisa Vanderpump shares plans to expand her restaurant empire
Although she and Ken have owned over 30 restaurants and bars for more than three decades in the U.S. and England, Lisa has no plans to slow their hospitality empire anytime soon.
Most recently, she announced she was opening a second location of her Lake Tahoe restaurant Wolf By Vanderpump in Scottsdale, Arizona. Lisa shared that the restaurant is set to open in Winter 2026 in Caesar’s Republic Scottsdale hotel, and bring a “dramatic” atmosphere, with “opulent design elements, creative cocktails, a globally inspired menu,” as well as panoramic views of Scottsdale’s Camelback Mountain.
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Lisa also has her sights set on an even bigger move in the new year: Vanderpump Hotel.
In an Instagram post to her page in March, she shared that the new hotel will be located along the Las Vegas strip in Caesars Entertainment’s former Cromwell Vegas space, and give patrons “the ultimate Vanderpump experience.”
The hotel’s website shared a timeline that the hotel is “set to dazzle the Las Vegas Strip in early 2026.”
Check out a full guide to all of Lisa’s restaurants, from Villa Blanca and SUR, to Wolf.
