# Beloved Ann Arbor vegetarian spot’s owners seek successor, wish to retire

**By:** mjfulea  
**Published:** 2026-10-20T19:16:21.976Z  
**Source:** [mlive, Advance Local](https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2026/10/beloved-ann-arbor-vegetarian-spots-owners-seek-successor-wish-to-retire.html?utm_campaign=mrf-facebook-annarbornews&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&mrfcid=202610206ad47c858016142dfa425d40)

---

Jeff Jackson (left) and Marsen Jackson (right) sit in their restaurant Seva Ann Arbor on Jackson Avenue and Maple Street on October 16, 2026.Myesha Johnson-Fulea | MLive.com

ANN ARBOR, MI - Maren and Jeff Jackson have owned vegetarian restaurant Seva Ann Arbor for almost 30 years.
They’re looking for a successor, so they can retire. 
Seva Ann Arbor, 2541 Jackson Ave. in the Westgate Shopping Center near I-94, is a 100% vegetarian restaurant. The Jackson’s insist it is not closing.
“We’ve been the stewards of this restaurant for the last 30 years, and we’d very much like the people and the place to continue,” Maren Jackson, 70, said. “We’d like this to be the base or the template for somebody who wants to take it and keep going.”
The asking price for Seva is $495,000 and is listed by realtor Jodi Trisdale. The Jacksons are the second owners and seek to continue Seva’s 53-year-long legacy.
Maren Jackson started out at as a student working for the restaurant as a head cook while studying engineering at the University of Michigan. In February 1997, the Jacksons bought the restaurant, turned the former market space into a full-service bar and redesigned the logo around rosemary, her favorite herb.
“I talked her into seeing if we could buy it,” Jeff Jackson, 65, said. 
“It’ll be 30 years coming up that we’ve owned it,” he said. “I basically say this is Maren’s restaurant because she’s been working for this restaurant since ‘79.”
“We’re getting older, we’re slowing down, so we’re trying to set up a plan,” he said. “...We know it will take a while for it to happen, (finding a new owner) the way the restaurant industry is now.”
Maren Jackson is behind all of Seva’s recipes, and Jeff Jackson scouts wine and beer for the bar that also complement the dishes. 
The restaurant has a full bar, a gluten-free deep fryer and serves up seasonal meals like pumpkin lasagna and a vegan pastry Wellington dish, called Tempeh Wellington.
“We welcome everybody. This has been a community spot for its entire 50 plus years,” Maren Jackson said.
Jeff Jackson said they are looking for “someone who could continue on what we’re doing and maybe even improving it.”
“Running a restaurant is not easy, so it’ll be nice not to after 30 years,” he said. 
Seva is one of over 81,000 businesses in Michigan facing the “silver tsunami,” --baby boomers own half of the independent businesses with employees in Michigan, according to the Michigan Center for Employee Ownership.
In Washtenaw County, 48% of businesses are owned by people aged 55 and above, according to data from the employee ownership organization. 
This means that over the next five to 10 years, Michigan businesses will see some form of ownership transition, said Roy Messing, board chair at MICEO.
When selling a longstanding business, “one of the biggest challenges is finding an owner or owners who are in a position to carry that legacy forward,” Messing said. 
Seva operates from Monday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
In retirement, the Jackson’s will “have time to walk the dog, live our lives... simple pleasures,” Maren Jackson said, adding they may even publish a second cookbook.
Seva’s first cookbook, published during their 50th anniversary in 2023, sold over 1,500 copies.
Seva traces its roots to Columbus, Ohio, where founders Steve Bellock and Barney Greenbaum opened Seva Longevity Cookery in the Short North neighborhood in 1971, according to the restaurant’s website. 
“(Back then), being a vegetarian restaurant was really out there, but then it got to be more popular,” Maren Jackson said. Her husband added: “It was the only non-smoking restaurant in Ann Arbor when it first opened, too.”
Bellock moved to Ann Arbor in 1973 and converted the Soybean Cellars restaurant, in the former VFW hall on East Liberty Street, into Seva. 
Seva Detroit opened in December 2011 in midtown and closed permanently in February 2025.
In 2014, Seva Ann Arbor moved to Westgate Shopping Center at Jackson Avenue and Maple Street.
Seva has several employees that have been working at the restaurant for over 15 years.
The Jacksons will wait “as long as it takes” to find the ideal owner, who has “a passion for food,” Maren Jackson said.