Slutty Vegan CEO Pinky Cole will appear in Birmingham this weekend at Avondale Gallery and Loft for a ticketed lunch event and public book signing.
The vegan restauranteur is not just known for her multiple Slutty Vegan locations, but also her Bar Vegan location in Atlanta, philanthropy work, and teaming up with her husband Derrick Hayes on other vegan business ventures.
Since Cole opened the Birmingham Slutty Vegan location, the first outside of Atlanta, she has opened other locations in Dallas and New York City. However, she makes it clear that Birmingham was where she had to learn all the ropes of opening a restaurant in another city, and it set her up for success in opening her other out-of-state locations.
“Birmingham was the springboard to be able to identify things will be different…I was used to Atlanta systems, county and state taxes. So coming to Alabama, the laws and permits are set up differently,” Cole told AL.com. “So there were a lot of learning curves that took us over a year to be able to identify. But now, I feel like we have arrived and we’re past the toddler stage.”
Last summer, the Birmingham Slutty Vegan location was vandalized after someone threw a brick through the glass entrance door. Cole said they didn’t open an investigation.
“The reality of it is there’s so much going on, and we have insurance,” she said. “It was unfortunate, but it allowed us to focus on best practices. So we installed shatter proof windows and doors in our restaurants. I have a policy that when s–t happens, we put policy in place. So when things happen in my businesses, we just learn from them.”
The location was also temporarily closed for about a week at the end of 2022 and early 2023 due to “an unforeseen mechanical issue.” But when AL.com asked Cole about how the business has performed since opening in Birmingham, she said the restaurant meets her expectations.
“Birmingham Slutty Vegan is actually profitable,” Cole said. “That is one…
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