The buzzy plant-based burger joint made founder Pinky Cole a household name. Seven years after starting the business as a ghost kitchen and a food truck, and expanding her empire to more than a dozen restaurants, the business is at a crossroads.

In April, Cole announced the company went through a restructuring outside bankruptcy court. She reclaimed control, but the business is down to six locations, according to Slutty Vegan’s website, all while Cole has shuttered her Bar Vegan tapas and cocktail concept.

“If they are successful, the brand will be successful. If they are not successful, I’ll be right back at square one telling the story about how my business didn’t make it, and I’m not willing to go through that again,” Cole said in a recent interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

This while her fame outside the restaurant continues to grow. In addition to her speaking engagements and civic work, she could soon be a regular on “The Real Housewives of Atlanta.”

For this story, Cole did not respond to multiple requests for comment over two weeks.

The AJC looked back at the tumultuous year for Slutty Vegan and asked fans, restaurateurs and observers what it’ll take to help the company rebound.

Beyond a successful entrepreneur and author, Cole is also a Clark Atlanta University graduate and member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority. To many, perhaps especially Black women, she represents aspiration becoming reality.

She’s also the author of a 2023 book with the provocative title “I hope you fail,” a tome to help entrepreneurs navigate the challenges of building their visions. Despite the title, however, no one hopes Cole fails.

And for years Slutty Vegan seemed destined for meteoric success.

There have been more than a dozen Slutty Vegan locations opened, including more than eight in Georgia, outposts in Alabama and Texas, and three New York City restaurants.

Bar Vegan, a cocktail lounge spinoff, launched in Ponce City Market in 2021, followed by Lawrenceville and Cole’s hometown of Baltimore.

Cole also landed products in Target stores, including “Slutty Strips” vegan bacon and “Slut Dust” seasoning.

The company was reportedly valued at $100 million in 2022, after a $25 million fundraise from investment groups led by Shake Shack founder Danny Meyer and Essence Ventures CEO Richelieu Dennis.

“I think Pinky, for Slutty Vegan, has done a historical job in becoming an entrepreneur,” he said.

But legal troubles have since mounted for Cole’s empire.

In a January 2023 lawsuit, a Bar Vegan employee claimed she was paid below federal minimum wage, and Cole and two business partners took a portion of her tips for themselves and the business. A few months later, Slutty Vegan was sued in a Brooklyn federal court over similar allegations.

“Slutty Vegan is deeply committed to creating a positive and supportive work environment for all of its employees, and takes the wellbeing of its staff very seriously,” a statement from Slutty Vegan representatives said at the time.

In March, the location at Spelman closed. The AJC reported in April that Cole failed to pay a settlement reached in the Bar Vegan litigation. Cole told the judge that despite being named as a defendant because of her position as Slutty Vegan’s CEO at the time, she neither owned an interest in Bar Vegan nor was running the Ponce City Market restaurant.

Also in April, Cole told several media outlets Slutty Vegan had entered into an out-of-bankruptcy court restructuring and that she’d taken control of the business under a new limited liability company.

She did not provide many details but said in an interview with UATL “It’s never been an issue of the revenue. The revenue was always coming in, but my corporate overhead was just extremely high.”

The AJC later reported Slutty Vegan Inc. went through a state-level alternative to bankruptcy known as an assignment for the benefit of creditors, or ABC.

But unlike a Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring, in the ABC process there is no immunity from lawsuits by creditors. Some creditors have continued efforts to recoup losses.

In May, it was announced that Ponce City Market’s Bar Vegan would close, as well. Weeks later in June, a planned location at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport would be canceled.

Links to products previously sold at Target, including seasoning, dips and “Slutty Strips,” are no longer operational.

For years, customers waited hours for vegan burgers as the company’s footprint grew. Today, only the Edgewood Avenue and Jonesboro locations remain in metro Atlanta. Multiple visits since late spring to those locations showed no lines. Four locations outside Georgia remain: Brooklyn; Birmingham, Alabama, Baltimore; and Brandon, Florida.

The Baltimore Peninsula location has rebranded as Bar V 2.0.

She visited the Edgewood Avenue location in early May, to finally be “sluttified” — a Slutty Vegan marketing term meaning one has sampled the food. Orr ordered the “One Night Stand” burger.

“It was OK,” she said two days later by phone. “It’s not something that I would go out of my way to go get.”

“Regardless if I liked it or not, that’s what made me want to go. To actually go and not experience any of that, it kind of … I could have just stayed home for this.”

Chris Bell co-hosts “The Black Narrative” podcast. In April, he and co-host Caelyn Phillips published an episode titled, “The Fall of Slutty Vegan,” critical of the company.

“We knew we were going against the grain,” Bell said. “We’re not trying to change people’s minds or force people to see our perspective more than just trying to drive a conversation.

“In my opinion, I don’t think there’s a second grace for Slutty Vegan. I think the brand is just gonna have to die, for a variety of reasons,” he said. “Not just her but because the climate has changed and I think people’s views on vegan food.”

Wallace remembers discovering Slutty Vegan eight years ago, during a weekend when both Local Green Atlanta and Slutty Vegan’s trucks were booked at Atlanta Food Truck Park. He watched as scores of customers lined up at the Slutty Vegan truck for multiple days.

“Then you have a founder that is highly ambitions and has zero fear of flying. When you have that, that could be a great mixture or formula for the type of success she was able to reach.”

Paris Bowles, a 2025 Spelman graduate, watched the all-women’s college’s location open and close in 2025. In a February Instagram post sharing news of the closure, Bowles didn’t hide her opinion.

“Never been happier,” she said in a comment, adding her beliefs that the food was overpriced and the portions were small.

Still, Bowles said she believes there are lessons her fellow AUC alumnae can learn.

“I think it’s important that we do hold each other accountable, but at the same time are not disrespectful and are not tearing down one another,” she said.

During the recent Atlanta Food & Wine Festival, “Real Housewives of Atlanta” cast member Kelli Ferrell was all charm as she made bacon cheeseburgers onstage near Mercedes-Benz stadium.

When asked if RHOA fans could expect to see Cole, her fellow Baltimore-area native, join the show’s upcoming 17th season as rumored, Farrell dropped hints about possible “additions.”