It was an emotional grand opening for Baltimore native Pinky Cole Hayes, who was met with open arms as she brought her successful restaurant chain, Slutty Vegan, to Charm City. Lines wrapped around the corner in near-freezing temperatures with smilies. It was a fitting welcome home for someone whose restaurant chains bring so much positive energy with every vegan burger, fries, and slutty-slushies order.
“I’m going to try not to cry,” Cole Hayes said ahead of the grand opening as people in the crowd screamed, “We love you, Pinky.”
A tearful Cole Hayes told those in attendance, “This is such a full circle moment […]. We’ve been in business for six years. We’ve made a lot of money, but we’ve also made a lot of impact. To some, this may just look like burgers and fries, but this is bigger than that. This is community building. It’s ecosystem building. We’re doing something that has never been done.”
Baltimore is the latest city lucky enough to have a Slutty Vegan chain. There are at least seven locations in the Atlanta metro area: two in New York City, one in Dallas, and one in Birmingham.
“Keep Fighting For What You Believe In”
If there were a theme for Slutty Vegan Baltimore’s grand opening, it would be to “keep pushing” and “keep fighting for what you believe in.” Cole Hayes started Slutty Vegan in 2018 when she was selling burgers out of her two-bedroom apartment in July. Back then, the burgers were fresh to order via Instagram. Word of her tasty burgers got out so fast that in just three months, Cole Hayes went from serving orders from her apartment to a mobile food truck before the first restaurant opened in October of that same year. The opening of the Baltimore location was similar to her Atlanta grand opening, where more than 1,200 people gathered outside the ATL restaurant in 45-degree weather.
“When y’all come and support me, and this vision, and this brand, it makes me want to go harder, it makes me want to work more, and it puts the battery in my back, so I just want to say thank you,” she tells people in Baltimore standing outside in 35-degree weather.
As for what’s next for Cole Hayes, she says it’s only the beginning and promises that more is coming. By the looks of it, she’s already planning to set the blueprint for 2025 and is inviting others along the way by teasing a vision board party to close out another successful year for her brand.
Slutty Vegan Baltimore is located at Baltimore Peninsula: 321 E Cromwell Street.
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