ATLANTA — Pinky Cole is on a roll.
The Atlanta-famed restaurateur is bringing her meatless menu to Georgia Tech. It will mark the first campus opening of Slutty Vegan.
"Now, to be able to infuse my organization on a very well-respected college campus is like -- it's not just a big moment for not just (Slutty Vegan), but for Georgia Tech," she said about going from a ghost kitchen to now serving her concept at several locations. "And I believe that the students are excited."
It's planned to debut at the recently renovated John Lewis Center on campus. Cole said the student center restaurant will serve an abbreviated menu with its iconic plant-based burgers still front and center.
"People want to have options," she said, "they don't want to just eat a regular burger and fries, maybe they want it to be vegan."
She said bringing Slutty Vegan to Georgia Teach shows consideration for dietary needs and respect for local business, calling it a genius move.
"Because it shows range," she explained. "I think it's groundbreaking."
For Cole, Georgia Tech's decision to bring Slutty Vegan on campus is a historic move and said it's laying the groundwork to be "the first of many." She says it's because of the next generation and how they're rethinking their relationship with each other and food.
"They are very progressive," she said of Gen Z. "As a result of that progression, they are mindful of their lifestyle changes, their lifestyle choices, their diet -- at least the ones that I've met."
She's excited to give students another choice.
As the Slutty Vegan brand grows onto a college campus, Cole said she hopes -- and has plans in motion -- to get her menu at a Historically Black College and University. As an HBCU grad, she is striving to open another location on an Atlanta campus.
With Georgia Tech's location set to open in March, she's taking stock of this new venture and accomplishment. No matter the next adventure she said each Slutty Vegan location will have a similar mission in mind.
"Bring people and food together in a way that you've never seen it before," she said.