Beloved Burger Chain Still Plans to Expand Despite Setbacks (Exclusive)

Slutty Vegan has had its ups and downs. Courtesy of its owner, Pinky Cole, the plant-based burger joint went from a pop-up to multiple brick and mortar across the south within years, earning Cole a spot on the Forbes List and spinning the business into a $100 million empire.

But it all came crashing down. Due to what Cole says was an expensive overhead amid expansion happening too quickly, she lost her business, but through hard work, she purchased it back. Another pitfall happened recently when it was announced that Cole filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy while restructuring her business, and she says despite the salacious headlines surrounding Slutty Vegan, it’s still an in-demand brand.

“It’s funny because somebody just inquired about Pittsburgh, so obviously that’s not Philly.  Despite all the negative press that I’ve gotten and all of the things that you see on the internet, I have gotten so many franchise requests,” Cole tells PopCulture exclusively. “People see what’s happening online. People see the story and the drama and the breakdown, but people still believe in my brand. And what I’ve learned even just most recently is that I have a bulletproof business. Slutty Vegan is weatherproof. And we’ve got a lot of things in the pipeline.”

“We’re signing franchisees that are experienced operators, which is one of the pieces that I missed, in 1.0, but 2.0 is giving more intentional scaling, efficiently, and I’m excited about this new journey and this new pathway,” she continued. “So what you see on the show is you will see the breakdown, you will see me evolving in entrepreneurship, you will see me navigating through marriage and through life and through the hard times, but what you also see is growth. You see growth in business, you see the bounce back, and everybody loves a good bounce back story. I’m just so happy because there’s gonna be a pocket of people that are gonna be rooting for me, and believing that they too can run through that brick wall because they see me do it.”

The Real Housewives of Atlanta Season 17 premieres Sunday April 5 at 8:00 PM.