Slutty Vegan is Opening in Brooklyn. Here’s Everything We Know

Slutty Vegan has gained national attention for its flavor-packed fast-casual foods, community involvement, and raunchy menu names. The plant-based burger joint is like nothing else in the country, but until recently, customers wanting to try the 'One Night Stand' or 'Heaux Boy' needed to drive to Georgia for a taste. Now, Slutty Vegan founder Pinky Cole has revealed she is bringing her acclaimed eatery to New York City.

Following months of anticipation, Cole finally announced that her newest location will set up shop in Brooklyn, NY on September 17. Cole revealed the opening date on GMA3: What You Need to Know to discuss the future of her company in honor of National Black Business Month. The Brooklyn outpost will be located at 690 Fulton Street in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene neighborhood. Opening in Fort Greene, Cole claims that returning to New York City feels like a homecoming.

“My first ever restaurant – Pinky’s Jamaican & American Restaurant – was in Harlem, so this is a full-circle moment for me,” Cole said. “It’s an honor 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.”

Slutty Vegan Brooklyn will open at 690 Fulton Street – a space previously held by Broccoli Bar. By taking over Broccoli Bar's storefront, Cole is maintaining a vegan presence within the neighborhood. Her menu will feature 100 percent plant-based burgers and sandwiches made with Impossible Foods' burger patties. The Brooklyn location will retain some signature burgers including the 'Fussy Hussy,' which features pickles, vegan cheese, and caramelized onions as well as the 'One Night Stand,' which is topped with vegan bacon, vegan cheese, caramelized onions.

“We are 110 percent confident that the Slutty Vegan team and Pinky Cole are going to build upon making vegan food fun, accessible, and (outrageously) delicious in a neighborhood that has been primed for it, that wants it, in a world that needs it,”  Broccoli Bar Operations Manager Lisa Bergström said. “From Broccoli to burgers, baby it's all the same – vegan food and vegan life at 690 Fulton Street – it's lit. All aboard, go get Slutified."

Cole’s Slutty Vegan enterprise currently consists of four brick-and-mortar locations within Atlanta. Her company also revealed that locations will open in Athens, GA; Birmingham, Alabama; and Baltimore, Maryland this year. Beginning as a delivery service in 2018, Slutty Vegan gained immediate attention from Atlanta vegans and non-vegans alike for its inventive, delicious offerings. Cole discussed the beginning of her Slutty Vegan journey with The Beet, remarking that she set out to create accessible late-night vegan food when the market didn’t exist.

“When I came up with the late-night vegan food idea, it was because I realized there was nowhere to get vegan food after 9 o’clock. Then I noticed that there are people who really want good food whether it's vegan or not,” Cole told The Beet. “My background is in television and I knew that sex and food will get anybody to buy anything! And when I merged both of those experiences people started coming in droves. So yeah, you hear the word vegan. But I thought: How can I make vegan raunchy by calling it slutty. But it has nothing to do with sex. It's just a way to dial you in. And once I have your attention I can teach you anything.”

With Slutty Vegan well-established in Atlanta culture, Cole is working to help Black communities around the city. She is an extremely involved activist and continues to donate money to organizations and campaigns that help those facing food insecurity and financial instability. Running The Pinky Cole Foundation, she provided scholarships to 30 juvenile offenders as well as launched college funds for the children of the late Atlanta-native Rayshard Brooks after his killing at the hands of the police in 2020.

Slutty Vegan also became the first restaurant to receive Pepsi’s Black-owned business grant last year. The PepsiCo Foundation and National Urban League joined forces to support Black restauranteurs who faced financial hardship onset by the COVID-19 pandemic. The initiative plans to give $10 million dollars to Black-owned businesses across 12 cities.

Fast-food restaurants have finally got the memo that their customer base isn’t just coming through for a burger, fried chicken, or a beef taco. Many now have plant-based foods and are coming up with creative, delicious ways to get more greens on the menu. Here are the 6 best fast-food chains with plant-based options on the menu.

Turns out there’s a lot more to rely on than a salad if you’re eating plant-based. Burger King has the Impossible Whopper featuring a meatless patty as well as a few secretly vegan options such as the French Toast Sticks and Hashbrowns.

Known for its mini square-shaped sliders, this hamburger chain jumped on the plant-based bandwagon at some participating locations. You can find an Impossible Slider on some White Castle menus.

This was the first national Mexican fast-food chain to offer Beyond Meat at the company’s 580 restaurants across the country. Del Taco has the Beyond Avocado Taco on the menu along with the Epic Beyond Original Mex Burrito and Avocado Veggie Bowl.

Another brand synonymous with beef burgers, Carl’s Jr. offers several plant-based options for veggie and plant lover such as Beyond Famous Star Burger and Guacamole Thickburger.

This fast-food restaurant may have been one of the first you frequented while transitioning to plant-based eating. That’s because Taco Bell has eight million vegetarian combinations and sells 350 million vegetarian items a year through menu substitutions or ordering off their vegetarian menu. In fact, they were the first quick-service restaurant to offer American Vegetarian Association (AVA) certified food options.

From the time it started offering breakfast sandwiches in 2006, the coffee conglomerate became a competitor in the fast-food space. You can get your favorite hot and cold beverages made with almond, coconut or oat milk but there are also plant-based food options available such as the Baja Black Bean Veggie Wrap, bagel with vegan cream cheese and Impossible Breakfast Sandwich.