New Vegan Restaurant Opens During COVID-19 Outbreak, Response Exceeds Owner’s “Wildest Dreams”

Kale My Name, Chicago’s newest all vegan restaurant opened its doors for the first time Friday, April 17 and received an overwhelmingly warm welcome in its opening weekend. Just as the team at Kale My Name was gearing up to open, the COVID-19 outbreak was starting to spread in Chicago, and Governor Pritzker and Mayor Lightfoot announced the changes restaurants would have to adapt to in order to keep everyone safe. Restaurants in Illinois are currently able to stay open, but dining in is no longer allowed. All orders must be picked up or delivered. These new policies, though important for everyone’s safety, can take a toll on small businesses. Many restaurant employees have recently been laid off, and some restaurants have created Go Fund Me pages in an effort to be able to provide pay for them. There have been campaigns led by various organizations to urge state and federal governments to provide relief for restaurants. Understandably, there is a lot of worry in the hospitality industry about how to make it through this unprecedented time. Creative solutions are needed. At Vegan Hospitality we know that making sure your menu is vegan friendly is vital to staying relevant to the modern consumer. 

Nemanja Golubovic, owner of Kale My Name, agrees that this is the way the world is moving, and commented on how quickly veganism, as a movement, is accelerating: “Of course I think the future is vegan. [At] first when I went vegan I thought the future is vegan. Maybe I won’t be alive to see it, but I know it’s coming. Now I’m sure I’m going to be alive to see it.” He went on to explain how nowadays everyone knows someone who is vegan, whether it's a coworker, neighbor, friend, or family member. Veganism, in general,  is no longer seen as weird or extreme- it’s mainstream. 

Golubovic thinks providing vegan options is necessary for every restaurant: “I see now everybody is doing vegan options. It’s already changing so much. Even huge chains like Burger King [have vegan friendly options]...I think [restaurants] will have to [offer vegan options] or they will have to shut down.” Becoming vegan friendly will help your restaurant not only survive, but thrive in the coming years.

Of course opening during a pandemic was a little scary, and no one was sure what to expect. Kale My Name has only four people on their staff so far. They agreed that if they could operate safely, then they should open. They decided on offering delivery through third party platforms and contactless pickup, and opened for business last Friday. The support that Kale My Name has received since opening has been overwhelming in the best way. They close at 8:00pm every day; on Saturday they had to stop taking orders at 6:00pm because they had 40 orders waiting to be made. People came from far and wide, during a pandemic, to show their support for this new vegan business- Golubovic noted that one family drove for 45 minutes just to order from Kale My Name. By Sunday night they had gone through 500+ to-go bags. 

Kale My Name has  already received countless 5-star reviews on Yelp, Google, Facebook, GrubHub, you name it. “My partner got the beyond burger, avocado tacos and cauliflower wings. He loved it! I had a stomach ache that day so I just got lentil soup and hummus- it was so delicious and I felt much better after eating. Food was clean and healthy. I like that there are options that are fried/ more "fast vegan food" and other options that are more raw and healthy. We both got what we wanted and it was delicious! Good job and we will order again tonight” reads one review on GrubHub. A review left on Facebook says, “Food was excellent! They were great about accommodating a rare allergy. Highly recommended.” And a glowing Yelp review says, “I'm no vegan, but I'll eat here weekly! The food is delicious, filling, and will introduce you to flavor combos you've never considered. The empanadas stole the show with a savory umami flavor that will ruin other empanadas for you forever. I had the Beyond Burger that, as flavors and textures go, is indistinguishable from a good, rare beef patty. Everything around the patty itself made for a damn good burger. Can't wait to go back and explore their whole menu!”

All these reviews are a testament to the fact that vegan food attracts all kinds of customers, not just vegans. Making your business vegan friendly doesn’t mean you’re focusing on a niche market or changing the principles of your business; it means you’re opening your doors to a huge population that is currently unwelcome at your restaurant and giving your current customers new dishes to try. It means more business for you. It means receiving high praise from vegans and nonvegans alike. It means setting your restaurant apart from all the others who aren’t taking action. 

In order for it to work, though, your vegan menu must be just as satisfying and desirable as your traditional menu. Golubovic remembered a trip to Miami during which he went to a restaurant with friends where he was only able to order French fries and salad, an experience which is all too common to vegans. Limited, unimaginative, nutritionally-lacking menu items will not cut it, but put in the time and effort to create a beautiful and delicious vegan menu, and you will have loyal customers praising your restaurant and telling all their friends. 

Golubovic is not the only restauranteur who believes that plant based is the future of food. In his recent hospitalitynet article “Does Your Hotel Needs a Plant Based Restaurant?” Larry Mogelonsky, the world’s most published writer in hospitality shared that within the next two decades, plant based dining will become the majority of dining, while meat-centric dining will become niche. He predicts restaurants that fail to make this transition timely and efficiently will soon be scrambling to keep their customers.

The world is quickly changing and becoming more vegan friendly. We see it all around us. From huge corporations like Burger King and Taco Bell offering plant based options, from slaughterhouses in Chicago being shut down one by one, to completely vegan restaurants opening all over the world and thriving, to horse carriages being banned in this Chicago, to countless bodybuilders and athletes eating plant based, to high-end brands such as Gucci and Prada going fur-free, veganism and plant based food are sweeping Chicago and the world.  If your business is not already vegan friendly, the time to fix that is now. As Golubovic said, “[Anyone] who is smart is going to start transitioning [their restaurant to plant based] fast.”

- This article was written by Rosemary Davy, Vegan Hospitality Consultant in the Chicago area. Contact her via social media or email her directly at veganfriendlychicago@gmail.com. To read Rosemary’s bio and meet our consultant network in other regions, click here.