Better Chew Kitchen in Vallejo, California, was just acquired by Bay Area chain Vegan Mob as its third franchise restaurant. The redesigned eatery continues to follow Chef Chew’s original mission to democratize access to plant-based food and will remain a Black-owned business.
The story of Better Chew Kitchen
To give you a solid understanding of this new venture, let’s start with the story of Better Chew Kitchen. The restaurant opened in May 2023 by GW Chew (aka Chef Chew) as an extension of his incredibly popular vegan meat brand, Better Chew. The driving force behind everything Chef Chew does is democratizing access to healthy, vegan food. Over the years, he has worked with public schools to introduce vegan food in their cafeteria, provided plant-based education to low-income communities, and opened this restaurant in a vegan food desert.
After about six months, Better Chew Kitchen temporarily closed for unknown reasons – but most assume it was either to focus on retail food or simply due to the current difficulties that come with owning a business. The eatery then reopened in January and three months later was looking for a restaurant operator.
Vegan Mob joins forces with Better Chew Kitchen
Enter: Vegan Mob. For the few people who aren’t familiar with this empire, Vegan Mob is a vegan BBQ and soul food company with two restaurants in Northern California, food trucks, and a cookbook. The company was founded by Toriano Gordon, who holds similar views to Chef Chew in making vegan food more accessible to BIPOC communities.
In late July, it was announced on Instagram that Vegan Mob would be partnering with Better Chew to transform the restaurant into a Vegan Mob franchise.
Chef Chew’s Kitchen in Vallejo
The restaurant will open under the new name Chef Chew’s Kitchen in Vallejo at 1 p.m. on August 11. It is Vegan Mob’s third franchise and the first restaurant to offer dine-in (pickup and delivery also available).
Gordon told VegOut: “It’s my dream to start a franchise and have Vegan Mob around the world. Chef Chew is a long-time friend of mine and we’ve worked together for years. He helped me develop the franchise model and we’ve been working on manufacturing for some time. At one point he even cooked and stored my recipes – so he’s not new to Vegan Mob. He’s been part of the process from the beginning. I’m really excited about this partnership. We’re both very good at what we do and joining forces will show the world how two people can come together and create something extraordinary. We’ve both always had big dreams of taking this industry by storm and now we can do it together!”
The menu at Chef Chew’s Kitchen
On the menu at Chef Chew’s Kitchen, customers will find Vegan Mob classics as well as some popular dishes from the original Better Chew Kitchen, like the Chicken Sandwich and Mobby Chew Kale Salad. There will also be some new specialties not previously available at Vegan Mob or Better Chew Kitchen. All plant-based meats offered, except shrimp, will be from Better Chew. And the restaurant will sell Better Chew’s frozen vegan products for $4.99 per bag to ensure the community has access to affordable meat alternatives.
Chef Chew’s Kitchen is located at 1745 Sonoma Blvd Vallejo, CA 94590. For more information, follow on Instagram @chefchewskitchen and @officialveganmob.
