Atlanta’s Hit Vegan Burger Chain Slutty Vegan Is Opening in NYC

From ny.eater.com

Owner Pinky Cole brings her line-inducing meatless burgers to Brooklyn this spring

Atlanta’s popular vegan burger chain Slutty Vegan is debuting its first New York City outpost. Owner Aisha “Pinky” Cole’s new spot will open at 690 Fulton Street, at South Portland Avenue, in Fort Greene sometime this spring, according to a press release. Eater has reached out for additional details.

What began in 2018 as a mobile delivery service with orders for meatless burgers taken via Instagram later became a food truck. Since then, Slutty Vegan has exploded into a full-blown restaurant empire. Slutty Vegan now has four brick-and-mortar locations across Atlanta, and openings are slated in Athens, Georgia; in Birmingham, Alabama; and Baltimore, Maryland.

As Slutty Vegan expands, Cole has catapulted to national fame beyond her meatless burgers: She has become popular for her empowerment of the Black community in discussions around veganism and for charitable work focused on bringing economic opportunities to communities of colour in Atlanta.

The famous One Night Stand burger.

 Slutty Vegan

Cole’s food can draw lines with wait times of up to three hours. The towering, stuffed vegan burgers — which use Impossible Foods for its patties and Hawaiian buns — feature cheeky names like One Night Stand (a patty topped with vegan bacon and cheese, caramelized onions, lettuce, and tomato), the Sloppy Toppy (with jalapenos), or the Fussy Hussy (with pickles).

“At the end of the day, it has nothing to do with sex,” said Cole, in a 2019 interview with the New York Times, about her decision to brand the business in way that would grab the public’s attention. “I know that sex sells, so I thought how I can positively manipulate this. We want you to have an orgasmic experience and the ultimate feeling of euphoria that comes after having a vegan burger.”

Slutty Vegan Brooklyn takes over the former site of another vegan import: Broccoli Bar, which closed last month, after opening in 2020, from a Vermont duo. The northeast expansion is a homecoming of sorts for Cole: her first-ever restaurant, the non-vegan Pinky’s Jamaican & American Restaurant, was located in Harlem and closed in 2016 after a fire. 

Cole stated in the press release: “It’s an honour to be opening a concept in such an established space, just down the street from where Biggie Smalls grew up, and to bring more delicious vegan food to the Brooklyn community!”

https://ny.eater.com/2022/3/1/22956401/slutty-vegan-atlanta-opening-brooklyn-burgers