The New Tesla Diner in LA Has Missed the Sustainability Offramp

Scott Mathias
Jul 23
3 min read

The neon glows at the new Tesla diner, the roller-skates glide, and the Cybertruck boxes stack neatly beside burgers and fries. But when the dust settles around Tesla’s much-hyped “retro-futuristic” Diner & Drive-In in Los Angeles, there’s one awkward question buzzing louder than the Superchargers outside: where exactly is the sustainability?

Elon Musk has long teased the idea of turning the Tesla brand into something bigger than cars, a lifestyle, an aesthetic, a future-state of being. And yet, the first real-world outing of that vision, planted firmly on Santa Monica Boulevard, reads more like a stylised throwback than a food-forward leap. Yes, it’s attached to an 80-stall V4 Supercharger station. Yes, it has two giant 66-foot movie screens beaming cult classics to seated Teslas. Yes, there are even humanoid Optimus robots handing out popcorn like some kind of Spielberg fever dream. But pull back the curtain, and what’s on the menu is something far more ordinary.

The Tesla Diner menu, now live via the official site, is awash with the old reliables - Wagyu smash burgers, chili cheese fries, fried chicken and waffles, tuna melts, pastrami sandwiches, ice cream sundaes, and strawberry shakes. Not a plant-based entrée in sight. No mushroom-based patties, no algae poke bowls, no vertical farm salad mix grown on site. If this is Musk’s idea of future food, we’ve gone full circle back to 1985. The only innovation seems to be in packaging - Cybertruck-shaped burger boxes and QR code ordering.

Eater LA was quick to spot the contradiction. In a glowing rundown of the atmosphere and space-age design cues, they noted that while the aesthetic hits, “quality and sustainability under this profit-first model” remain huge question marks. The Daily Beast, reporting from the launch, described a chaotic opening night of “soggy fries, frazzled staff, and long queues”—all served up under the banner of innovation. Meanwhile, The Guardian highlighted the disconnect between Musk’s lofty declarations and the reality of a meat-and-dairy-heavy menu.

'For a man obsessed with reducing global emissions, the Tesla Diner feels eerily out of touch with its own mission statement.'

Let’s not pretend this doesn’t matter. A diner physically plugged into the renewable energy network should, by design, offer an equally renewable food model. But instead of taking the opportunity to showcase local hydroponics, fermentation, traceable ingredients, or even carbon-labeled menu items—Tesla has served up what amounts to a franchisable Americana theme park. This isn’t a knock on nostalgia, it’s a reality check. If your flagship sustainability concept is pushing Wagyu beef and calling it progress, you’ve missed the mark.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with burgers and shakes. But when your brand is literally built on electric propulsion and climate consciousness, there’s a higher bar to meet. Especially when consumers, especially Gen Z and Millennials, are increasingly aligning their food choices with environmental values. These are the same consumers who drive Teslas, drink oat lattes, and track carbon apps. They’re not looking for fries that come in chrome boxes, they’re looking for systems matching the story.

And here’s the irony. A few speculative renderings of what a real sustainable Tesla Diner could be including vertical gardens, spirulina shakes, mushroom burgers, zero-waste prep kitchens, have been floating in concept land for years. They weren’t impossible. They were just ignored. Musk, famously capable of building rockets and tunnels and AI chips, didn’t bother to rethink the kitchen.

So, where to from here? If future Tesla Diners open as planned across the U.S., they’ll need to do more than supercharge EVs. They’ll need to supercharge the menu, rethink the food system, and start telling the truth about what sustainability actually looks like. Because right now, Tesla’s culinary experiment feels more like a brand extension than a mission-aligned evolution.

Cool? Yes. Smart? Debatable. Sustainable? Not even close.

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