How KFC’s Skipped Opportunity Inspired Atlanta’s Initially Vegan Rooster Wing Shop

International fast-food items chain KFC produced headlines in 2019 when it released its very first-ever plant-centered hen in partnership with Outside of Meat. The minimal-time promotion, which highlighted vegan nuggets and wings, transpired at a single location in Atlanta, and marketed out in just 5 hours. 

In spite of a larger sized, limited-time nationwide launch previous year, the chain has still to reintroduce vegan rooster as a long term menu product in Atlanta or everywhere else in the region. In Atlanta, there is just one entrepreneur satisfying cravings for vegan chicken wings.

Final summer, entrepreneur N’namdi Arinze introduced Vegan Wangs, Atlanta’s initial Black-owned, plant-based chicken wing cafe. “Being raised vegan, I truly feel, provides me an edge,” Arinze tells VegNews. “[I know] how vegan food stuff really should taste.”

Vegan Wangs

The restaurant, which currently operates inside a ghost kitchen, specializes in vegan, soy-cost-free hen wings in flavors this sort of as Buffalo, Thai Sweet Chili, Bar-B-Que, Spicy Jerk, and Mango Habanero. Plant-based mostly hen sandwiches and oyster mushroom hen fingers are also up for grabs together with a variety of French fries salads and a silky, cashew-centered strawberry cheesecake.

Consumers can get a style of Vegan Wangs through food shipping and delivery platforms Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub or by buying right through the Vegan Wangs web site. 

Vegan hen wings landing in Atlanta

Just after noticing a lack of readily readily available, soy-no cost vegan chicken wings, Arinze bought to do the job. The entrepreneur perfected his menu after acquiring purchaser responses in the course of pop-ups. 

“I began undertaking pop-ups at a well-liked well being meals retailer and juice bar in the West Close of Atlanta, which authorized for genuine client feedback,” Arinze claims. And the response has been continually beneficial.

“The response was and has because been extremely welcoming [and] overpowering,” he suggests. “We have clients who have requested two times in a person working day for consecutive days. I think rooster wings are just one of the items that numerous vegetarian and vegan converts have not built peace with [having to] give up—that’s wherever Vegan Wangs’ timing can make perception.”

Vegan Wangs

Arinze’s vegan upbringing, aside from peaking his classmates’ curiosity about his tofu sandwiches appear lunchtime, also created him acutely conscious of the few establishments catering to plant-primarily based weight loss plans and the creative imagination essential in the kitchen. “Being vegan limited the selection of establishments I could eat at,” Arinze states. “It was all about becoming artistic, which my mother was exceptional at.”

Outdoors of its ghost kitchen area, the restaurant’s vegan wings could also be coming to grocery retailers and other places to eat in the long run as Arinze has his eyes set on increasing into retail and food items provider. And Arinze is by now contemplating outside of Atlanta, with a prolonged-expression goal to develop to Brooklyn where he lived for a few many years and has discovered it as an best market place. 

Atlanta’s vegan foodstuff scene

In addition to Vegan Wangs, Atlanta’s vegan food items scene has developed in recent decades with novel companies. In 2019, Atlantans welcomed Plant Dependent Pizza—the city’s 1st vegan pizzeria. In 2020, Chi Chi Vegan opened as Atlanta’s 1st plant-dependent taqueria.

This spring, the town will also welcome its 1st plant-based mostly creamery. Established to open on March 25, The Creamy Place will provide dairy-totally free frozen desserts these as vegan tender provide, ice product sandwiches, and pints in rotating seasonal favors. Milkshakes and stylish rolled ice cream will also be included to the menu following the creamery is up and operating. 

Slutty Vegan

The city’s best-known vegan organization is Slutty Vegan, which acquired its begin in Atlanta when founder Pinky Cole initially opened it as a foodstuff truck in 2018. Due to the fact then, Cole has expanded the enterprise to new heights. 

Just after opening numerous areas across Ga and Alabama, Cole introduced Slutty Vegan to Brooklyn last slide. And with a $25 million expenditure elevated very last summer season, there’s no slowing down with a Harlem expansion—and its initial push-thru location—already in the functions. 

All of these vegan organizations are operated by Black Atlantans, who, according to the US Census, comprise 48.2 p.c of the city’s inhabitants and make up the city’s most significant demographic. 

Black Us citizens, Pew Research found, are also at the forefront of the vegan movement with approximately eight per cent of Black People in america pinpointing as strict vegans or vegetarians in contrast to just 3 per cent of the standard population.