Mr. Charlie’s: The Vegan Fast Food Joint that Looks Familiar But is Unlike Anything You’ve Seen Before

One Frowny Meal coming proper up!

Meet Mr. Charlie’s, a vegan fast-food chain that began in Los Angeles and has since opened up one other location in San Francisco. The course of is easy. Step one: order one thing scrumptious from their menu, like a Not a Chicken Sandwich or a BigChuck (a double Impossible Burger with a particular sauce). Step two: really feel like a child once more.

Vegan choices have soared in recognition lately, each in grocery shops and eating places. It’s a dietary alternative many have turned to for numerous causes, together with environmental, health, and animal welfare-related. As of 2020, the variety of Americans eating a plant-based diet exceeds 9.7 million. Not solely that, we reported for the 2023 Trend Report how imitation meat is having a second, and there are heaps of choices on the market, starting from ones with distinctive substances and flavors to others meant to be as very similar to the actual factor as attainable. The two which may idiot even probably the most meat-loving meat eater, Beyond Meat and the model Mr. Charlie’s makes use of, Impossible Foods, means nobody can complain in the event that they’re in search of meat-like plant-based selections.

But to name Mr. Charlie’s a vegan restaurant doesn’t fairly hit the mark. Co-founded by Taylor McKinnon, Aaron Haxton, and the model’s namesake, Charlie Kim, Mr. Charlie’s isn’t a lot a plant-based quick meals joint as it is a social enterprise that simply so occurs to promote vegan quick meals. While Taylor and Aaron admit the meals is scrumptious, they had been extra fired up concerning the model’s ethos and enterprise practices.

“Both of us have been concerned in loads of companies earlier than this, and everyone’s at all times involved with the underside line of tips on how to earn cash,” Aaron stated. “That’s at all times the primary factor in all these enterprise conversations, so Taylor and I checked out one another and stated, ‘What if we deal with the issues that we care about? And fuck every part else. “We needn’t match into this mould of a giant enterprise thought. We can say, ‘These are essential issues, and the way can we channel these ideas and concepts into one thing and have a enjoyable time doing it alongside the way in which with one another?’”

“I believe any individual wanted to step up and be the instance that there was extra alternative and extra methods to essentially do life, particularly in enterprise,” Taylor added. “For us, it’s about leaving the world higher than we discovered it. Mr. Charlie’s is an instance of breaking via the social obstacles, creating a bit of little bit of controversy, making it enjoyable, and giving individuals a possibility to see that the unimaginable can occur.”

The model doesn’t precisely comply with business requirements or finest practices for monetary success, however that’s a part of its allure. It’s enjoyable, irreverent, and operates with a values-first perspective—one thing most fast-food eating places would by no means entertain.

For occasion, Mr. Charlie’s crew believes in hiring workers who would possibly in any other case get missed within the hiring course of—individuals who have struggled with being houseless, handled dependancy, or had been incarcerated. Partnering with Dream Center permits Mr. Charlie’s to rent people prepared for a second likelihood at life. Taylor himself was unhoused and struggled eight years in the past, so he is aware of simply how significant it’s to have somebody lend a serving to hand in a time of want. In flip, Mr. Charlie’s can do this for the neighborhood.

And you could be questioning why the branding and packaging look eerily much like a selected quick meals restaurant with golden arches. Mr. Charlie’s flaunts a well-known hearth engine pink and canary yellow, and in a twist of irony, frowny faces present up all over the place your mind is used to seeing a smile. There’s even a clown motif on their homepage. It has Marilyn Monroe’s face, however nonetheless—you get the reference, proper?

Oh, you imply that place? No, by no means heard of it?

Taylor and Aaron denied figuring out something concerning the chain in query—which additionally simply so occurs to have a location across the street from the San Francisco Mr. Charlie’s store. 

Taylor insists they discovered inspiration within the massive high.

“We love the circus a lot,” Taylor stated. “We’re massive followers of the circus, with the pink and yellow vibe, that enjoyable, youthful, and childlike sort of connection. The world is a bit of little bit of a circus anyway, however for us, it was about being daring and loud and connecting individuals to their interior youngster. For me and Aaron and Charlie, once we had been children, loads of what we’re coping with immediately wasn’t right here. It provides me loads of peace to meditate and look again on what it feels wish to be a baby. So then I stated, ‘Well, what if we created a possibility for everyone to seek out that pleasure?’”

Whether or not you really imagine the place they sourced inspiration, the crew’s deal with enjoyable is honest—and there’s no denying that the model feels playful and shiny. For a company that openly admits they’re “tackling severe points, with a not-so-serious strategy” and who name themselves “sarcastic disruptors,” there’s a sure satisfaction in seeing them take every part a widely known, golden-arched restaurant does and flipping it on its head (coincidentally, after all). Prioritizing individuals over revenue? Focusing on plant-based choices? Mr. Charlie’s doesn’t care the way it’s been carried out earlier than—that’s how they wish to influence the world. 

Aside from providing all plant-based choices on their menu, Taylor credited Aaron for working tirelessly to make the packaging as sustainable as attainable. Save for a specific sauce packet, Aaron stated the restaurant is plastic-free, and packaging will get sourced domestically to cut back emissions.

“We may have made all of our packaging internationally and saved a fortune,” Taylor stated. “But we do not. We make all of it home to create jobs, construct infrastructure, and be sure that we will maintain in step with the standard. Our paper comes from sustainable forests, and we use soy ink to print every part. Why? Because that is the appropriate technique to do it. Is it costlier? Yes. But is it higher for The Mother? Yeah.

“We get to stay on this land and breathe this air and expertise bushes and the moon and daylight and one another,” Taylor defined. “You’ve acquired to be giving it again, and you have to be supporting it. You cannot take, take, and take as a result of have a look at what occurs whenever you do this.” 

Mr. Charlie’s solely opened their first location in February 2022, barely a yr in the past on the time of this piece’s publication, and it may seem to be they’ve been an on the spot hit. They partially have social media to thank (when Lizzo’s drooling over some burgers, it’s unimaginable to not be influenced). But the crew has additionally put loads of exhausting work—and coronary heart—into making one thing that prospects can connect with.

“Lots of people have a look at Mr. Charlie’s and go, ‘This was an in a single day success,’” stated Aaron. “And it was, on the one hand, nevertheless it took many, a few years of fucking as much as get to the purpose the place we may create one thing that was an in a single day success. We’ve made all of the errors. And fortunately, with Mr. Charlie’s, we have been in a position to make fewer due to our expertise up to now. 

“But failure isn’t failure,” added Aaron. “It’s simply a part of the method. And you don’t fail till you hand over.”