This is what happens when two influential Black vegan entrepreneurs team up for the community.
Better Chew Kitchen in Vallejo, California was just acquired by Bay Area powerhouse Vegan Mob as its third franchise restaurant. The revamped eatery still embraces Chef Chew’s original mission to democratize access to plant-based foods, and it will remain a Black-owned business.
Better Chew Kitchen’s History
To give you a solid understanding of this new venture, let’s start with Better Chew Kitchen’s history. The restaurant first opened in May of 2023 by GW Chew (AKA Chef Chew), as an extension of his wickedly popular vegan meat brand, Better Chew. The driving force behind everything Chef Chew does is to democratize access to healthy, vegan foods. Over the years, he’s worked with public schools to introduce vegan food in their cafeteria, offered plant-based education to low-income communities, and opened this restaurant in a vegan food desert.
After about six months, Better Chew Kitchen temporarily closed for reasons unknown—but most assume it was either to focus on their retail food products or simply due to the current struggles of owning a business. The eatery then reopened this January and three months later, put out feelers for a restaurant operator.
Vegan Mob Teams up with Better Chew Kitchen
Enter: Vegan Mob. For the small population that isn’t already familiar with this empire, Vegan Mob is a vegan BBQ and Soul food company with two restaurants in Northern California, food trucks, and a cookbook. The business was founded by Toriano Gordon, who also shares similar views to Chef Chew about making vegan food more accessible to BIPOC communities.
In late July, the announcement was made on Instagram that Vegan Mob will team up with Better Chew to turn the restaurant into a Vegan Mob franchise.
Courtesy of Vegan Mob
Chef Chew’s Kitchen in Vallejo
The restaurant will open under the new name, Chef Chew’s Kitchen, in Vallejo on August 11 at 1pm. This marks Vegan Mob’s third franchise and first restaurant with a dine-in option (pickup and delivery will also available).
Gordon told VegOut, “It’s a dream of mine to franchise and have Vegan Mob all over the world. Chef Chew is a longtime friend of mine and we’ve been working together for years. He’s helped me with some of the development of the franchise model, and we’ve been working on the manufacturing side of things for a while now. At one point in time, he even cooked and stored my recipes—so he’s no stranger to Vegan Mob. He’s been a part of the process along the way. Very excited about this partnership. We are both very good at what we do so combining the powers will show the world how two people can come together and do something extraordinary. We’ve both always had big dreams to take this industry by storm and now we can do it together!”
The Menu at Chef Chew’s Kitchen
On the menu at Chef Chew’s Kitchen, customers can expect to find Vegan Mob classics alongside a few fan-favorite dishes from the original Better Chew Kitchen like the Chicken Sandwich and the Mobby Chew Kale Salad. There will also be a few new specialty items never before seen at Vegan Mob or Better Chew Kitchen. All of the plant-based meats offered except for shrimp will be Better Chew's. And the restaurant will sell Better Chew’s frozen vegan products for $4.99 per bag to ensure the community has access to affordable meat alternatives.
Chef Chew’s Kitchen is located at 1745 Sonoma Blvd Vallejo, CA 94590. For more information, follow @chefchewskitchen and @officialveganmob on Instagram.
