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Private company

Lentil as Anything

Former Australian restaurant group

Lentil As Anything Inc. (Lentil) was a group of pay what you want, not for profit vegetarian and vegan Australian restaurants founded by Shanaka Fernando. Restaurants were located in Melbourne and Sydney and operated on a similar model to pay what you can. The operation closed in February 2022 due to financial concerns and allegations of mismanagement.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

2000Founded1

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Lentil As Anything Inc. (Lentil) was a group of pay what you want, not for profit vegetarian and vegan Australian restaurants founded by Shanaka Fernando. Restaurants were located in Melbourne and Sydney and operated on a similar model to pay what you can. The operation closed in February 2022 due to financial concerns and allegations of mismanagement. Lentil is named after the Australian new wave band Mental As Anything.2

How it started

History

Lentil was a multicultural, refugee-friendly, organisation founded in September 2000 and was registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission. There were four Lentil locations, the first of which opened in 2000 in St. Kilda and the largest being located at the former Abbotsford Convent. Their most recent restaurant was opened in the Melbourne suburb of Thornbury in 2015. A total of eight restaurants were active before their closure in 2022.

From Wikipedia’s article on Lentil as Anything, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2

Timeline

  1. 2000Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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  2. 2