A Popular Burger Chain Is About To Double Its Footprint
From national brands like McDonald's to regional gems like Jack in the Box, a plethora of burger chains are growing at a breakneck speed with dozens or even hundreds of planned store openings. Few, however, are expanding at a massive scale like Slutty Vegan.
The chain—which opened its first brick-and-mortar location in Atlanta in 2018—serves a variety of loaded plant-based burgers and other vegan fare with cheeky names (i.e. the One Night Stand and Fussy Hussy). It currently operates 13 restaurants across Georgia, Texas, and New York. But over the next year and a half, it's poised to more than double in size.
Slutty Vegan founder Pinky Cole Hayes is planning to open about 15 additional locations over the next 18 months, Restaurant Business Magazine reported. In order to scope out potential markets for these new openings, Cole Hayes will host a series of Slutty Vegan popups across the country over the next couple of weeks.
"If you go to a location and it goes extremely well, we know it's a location we want to be in," Cole Hayes told Restaurant Business Magazine. "All of the popups do extremely well, but you have to get a feel for the tone and the vibe."
This "Gettin' Slutty Tour" recently made its first stop in Los Angeles and attracted a line of customers that stretched down a street, according to the publication. The tour will also stop in Chicago; St. Louis; Nashville, Tenn.; Louisville, Ky.; Fishers, Ind.; Lanham, Md.; Newport News, Va.; and Portsmouth, Va. Anyone interested in stopping by the popups should check out the Slutty Vegan Instagram page for exact dates and locations.
While plant-based meat sales have been on the decline lately, Slutty Vegan appears to be thriving despite this negative trend. The company scored a $25 million investment in 2022 from the Enlightened Hospitality Investments growth fund. Slutty Vegan was also named the third-best burger spot in America in a 2023 Yelp ranking based on customer reviews.
Cole Hayes will start making progress on Slutty Vegan's ambitious growth pipeline this year by opening a location in her hometown of Baltimore. The chain will add a second Baltimore location in 2025 and open a restaurant in the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Cole Hayes told Restaurant Business Magazine that she eventually wants to offer franchising, which could accelerate its expansion opportunities for Slutty Vegan even further.
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