The founders of PLNT Burger have a new concept coming to Washington, D.C.
The new fast-casual PLNT Café is scheduled to open later this year in D.C.’s Mount Vernon Triangle neighborhood, marking what the company calls a next chapter for the brand.
The plant-based burger concept PLNT Burger was co-founded by Just Ice Tea founder Seth Goldman and chef Spike Mendelsohn in 2019. There are 12 units of PLNT Burger along the East Coast, mostly in Whole Foods markets. It features a menu of burgers, hot dogs, and crispy chicken — all plant-based — as well as wraps, fries, and shakes. One location in Brookline, Massachusetts is a free-standing unit.
Out of those PLNT Burger locations, the company also has a virtual brand called T@ko, also known by the website Knockout Tacos, available only through digital channels. The taco menu uses many of the same SKUs as the burger concept.
Chris Treloar, PLNT Burger’s CEO, said the company started thinking about diversifying the PLNT menu, maybe dropping “burger” from the name or even changing the name entirely.
But then a location opened in D.C. that they felt was the perfect opportunity to try something different.
The new PLNT Café will feature a “vegetable-forward” menu that is designed to appeal to a broader range of diners — though, like PLNT Burger and T@ko, the menu at the café will be entirely plant based.
The goal is to make the café sort of a “one-stop shop” for the three concepts, including items from the PLNT Burger menu, T@ko/Knockout Tacos and more.
“We’ve never really tied T@ko and PLNT Burger publicly,” he said. “This will be the first opportunity to let people know it’s one big brand.”
The PLNT Burger cheeseburger | Photo courtesy of Scott Suchman
The three-daypart cafe menu will include PLNT Burger’s Cheeseburger and Lil Chik’n Dippers, for example. But the café will also include dishes like the Smashed Cucumber Salad, with cucumber, chili crisp, sesame, and tamari.
From the T@ko menu will be items like a Tropicauli Pastor Taco, made with crispy breaded cauliflower tossed in an al pastor marinade and topped with mango salsa, pickled red onions, and a drizzle of cilantro crema.
The 1,521-square-foot café will also bring back the Chik’n Funguy, a once-popular sandwich on the PLNT Burger menu made from battered and fried oyster mushroom root, and served with lettuce, pickles and plant-based garden herb mayo.
PLNT Burger once had three free-standing locations, but one closed, and another in New York was converted to a ghost kitchen.
Treloar said the company had attempted free-standing locations in markets where PLNT was less known. The new café is a return to the chain’s home market, where it first began, and where brand awareness is strong.
Plant-based chains have seen much retraction in recent years.
Earlier this year, Massachusetts-based Clover Food Lab closed its 11 locations. Actor Kevin Hart’s Hart House concept all shuttered in Los Angeles. Veggie Grill closed about 40% of its locations and was acquired by Next Level Burger. In March, the more upscale chain Planta was approved for liquidation.
Treloar, however, contends that the $8 billion market for plant-based dining remains unchanged. He blames the closures on “the Hype Curve,” in which many jump onto the bandwagon for a hot concept. Inevitably, some fail and the concepts that survive become the massive benefactors.
“We’re seeing that now,” said Treloar. “Vegan customers aren’t going anywhere. It’s not like they stopped eating plant based. They’re just running out of options.”
