“Welcome, slut!” shouts a lady from behind the counter as three 30-something hipsters stroll by the door of Atlanta’s fashionable Slutty Vegan fast-food restaurant. “Slut in the home!” yells one in every of her co-workers as she makes her approach to the register to take the trio’s order.
Sitting at a close-by desk within the vibrant institution on a latest Saturday afternoon is founder and CEO Pinky Cole, who breaks from her interview to overlap along with her workers with an enthusiastic “We’ve acquired a slut strolling in!” Then, with out skipping a beat—however returning to a decrease, conversational tone—Cole continues with the interview as if she had not simply loudly hurled what some may think about a verbal insult at her patrons.
It was clear the three diners had been to the fashionable fast-food vegan eatery earlier than, as they took the cheeky accusations in stride and smiled, clearly unfazed, as they positioned their order from the menu that features signature plant-based burgers with playful names like “One Evening Stand,” “Sloppy Toppy,” and “Fussy Hussy,” and sides like “Slutty Fries” tossed in a signature “Slut Mud” seasoning.
VegNews caught up with the 38-year-old profitable entrepreneur—who went from promoting plant burgers from her two-bedroom house to promoting them from a meals truck to, in 2018, opening her first brick-and-mortar eatery at her flagship restaurant in Atlanta—to speak along with her about her journey up to now, what she sees in her future, and sure, her foray into the world of actuality TV.
Slutty Vegan
Juliet Pennington: How did you provide you with the identify Slutty Vegan?
Pinky Cole: I used to be sitting in my house, and it hit me like a light-weight bulb. I used to be like, that is the one. I’ve acquired to run with it. And I’ve to confess, there was some medical marijuana concerned.
JP: And now the restaurant has six areas below its belt plus it’s franchising. Did you ever suppose it will develop the best way it has?
PC: I by no means, in my wildest goals, imagined it might be this massive. Sitting right here at my flagship location, who would have thought that this location would flip right into a cornerstone of vegan meals in Atlanta? It’s a vacation spot, like folks come from throughout the nation—and everywhere in the world, truly—to patronize my enterprise. And that’s fairly cool. And since we introduced that we had been franchising, we’ve had greater than 350 inquiries—and simply signed our first one in Washington, DC. It’s very thrilling.
JP: Along with the restaurant, you run the Pinky Cole Basis, a community-minded nonprofit dedicated to empowering different entrepreneurs. Inform us about that.
PC: I like seeing different folks win. Slutty Vegan has cast a pathway to assist entrepreneurs and put them ready to have entry to sources they want to allow them to win—and that’s a win for me; a ten out of 10. We assist folks in all completely different circumstances, together with entrepreneurs who need to construct generational wealth, who’ve intentions to develop their companies. That’s the place we are available … we’re a protected haven, a assist system for them to have the ability to develop.
Bravo
JP: You’ve already achieved movie star standing in Atlanta, however your star is about to shine even brighter as the latest forged member on Bravo’s “The Actual Housewives of Atlanta.” What was that have like?
PC: It was unimaginable. I might inform that a number of the ladies haven’t actually been round people who find themselves vegan, so that they acquired an opportunity to grasp my life-style—to see what I eat and what I don’t eat. And once more, I believe it goes again to folks not realizing, proper? They weren’t vital or judgmental; simply unaware. They had been involved in what I ate on a day-to-day foundation and had been fearful about me not consuming sufficient. I assured them that I eat sufficient (laughs), and I’m simply excited that with this present, there will likely be extra visibility on veganism. The vegan motion has had its challenges—like with some vegan eating places closing lately—however I imagine that being on the present is simply one other alternative for me to reignite the momentum. There are nonetheless individuals who need to eat vegan, and don’t need to eat the flesh of an animal.
JP: Is there strain realizing that you’re basically the face of veganism on this new, large platform?
PC: It’s a giant duty. I’m on a present that has 78 million viewers and my entire storyline is Slutty Vegan and speaking about my life-style. Having this platform is a chance to actually unfold the message of veganism in a method that makes folks comfy and will get them speaking about [food] choices that they could have by no means thought-about earlier than.
JP: Alongside together with your thriving enterprise, your philanthropic pursuits, and showing on a actuality TV present, you and your husband hospitality entrepreneur Derrick Hayes have 5 kids. How do you juggle all of it? Do you may have any suggestions for different working mother and father who’re attempting to make all of it work?
PC: Effectively first off, let’s name it what it’s: madness. You get actually good at being insane when it’s important to. If you’re a mom and an entrepreneur, a spouse, a sister, a pal … it’s important to do non-traditional stuff to make it work. You’ve acquired to get artistic in the way you present up in your kids. For instance, I began bringing my youngsters to work with me. So long as you present up each single day and do the perfect you possibly can in each single space of your life, that’s sufficient. That’s greater than sufficient.
Slutty Vegan
JP: What’s it about your model that you just suppose appeals to so many individuals?
PC: I’m captivated with what I do and the impression it has—and folks acknowledge that. I grew up with a Rastafarian mom and ate, I’d say, 95 % vegetarian. In 2007, I grew to become totally vegetarian, after which vegan in 2013, and it simply made sense to begin a enterprise that was in alignment with my values and make meals that everybody—not simply vegans—want to eat. Individuals actually love my model and more often than not, it’s individuals who do eat meat. That’s the place the wonder is available in: carnivores who eat our meals for the primary time are like, ‘Oh crap, I actually like this.’
JP: You’ve been open about the way it hasn’t all the time been easy crusing and the way, in February, 2024, your small business underwent a restructuring.
PC: It was the toughest factor I’ve ever needed to do.
I hit all-time low. I constructed a $100 million model and made the error of taking my fingers off the wheel for just a little bit. As a enterprise proprietor, you possibly can’t do this. However you realize what, I wanted this to occur.
As a result of whenever you restructure your organization, you’re actually ranging from scratch, and it’s important to make sure that to dot all of the i’s and cross all of the t’s. I’m nonetheless navigating all of it in actual time.
JP: You don’t look like one to let setbacks cease you—you even launched a ebook in 2023 referred to as I Hope You Fail. How do you flip failure into one thing constructive?
PC: Failure is de facto not failing in any respect. It’s actually simply batting follow. You’ve acquired to maintain swinging as a result of that’s the one method you’re going to get higher. That’s not failing; that’s studying. That’s conditioning. I’m within the enterprise of conditioning.
JP: And in March of 2025, you obtain your organization again.
PC: I did, and the following dimension I’m transferring into—I’m calling it Slutty Vegan 2.0—is thrilling. I’ve a special degree of fireplace in me and the way I need to develop this firm, as a result of I do know what it seems like to not have it. I’ve an idea that folks love and respect and so they nonetheless line up. They nonetheless get enthusiastic about my model and, due to that, I do know that I’ve one thing good and one thing that’s price preventing for.
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Juliet Pennington is a Boston-based journalist and educator who’s captivated with all-things vegan.
