Note: this article was amended to correct 2028 to 2029
The Vegan Food Hub (VFH), an Australian vegan restaurant company that owns Sydney’s burger chain Soul Burger and ghost-kitchen brands Plantas Taqueria and Zaynas Lebanese, recently announced the launch of a crowd equity raise to expand its restaurant portfolio.
Amit Tewari, a pioneer in Sydney’s vegan scene, established Soul Burger in 2015 and founded VFH to popularise vegan food and make it readily accessible throughout Australia. His company operates four vegan burger stores across New South Wales, including Parramatta, Glebe, Newtown, and Randwick. It has eight delivery-only locations of its other plant brands.
“We will be building brands across a diverse range of cuisines, with the unifying theme being, they are all vegan!” says VFH.
40 restaurants by 2029
VFH aims to raise funds to strengthen Soul Burger’s operations and expand its business with two new restaurants, a Plantas Taqueria, and a Zaynas Lebanese.
According to the statement, VFH’s revenue has surpassed $20 million with the lion’s share of this coming from Soul Burger. Since their launch, Zaynas Lebanese and Plantas Taqueria have contributed nearly 20% of total revenue.
VFH aims to establish 40 restaurants by 2029. Its expansion plans include eight new locations by 2025, featuring two additional Plantas Taqueria and two additional Zaynas Lebanese, before heading to Brisbane and Melbourne markets for further growth.
“We have an amazing system where we can effective[ly] trial new vegan concepts through delivery-only offerings. Once the operations are down pat, and the brand has proven demand and gained a following, we can build physical locations for it and take the brand to the next level,” commented Tewari.
To bolster VHF’s managing team and direct the growth of its VFH brands throughout Australia, the ambitious company has appointed Michael Ephraim, formerly the PlayStation Managing Director ANZ and VP of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe as an investor and advisor to the group.
Delivering vegan food
The Vegan Food Hub has developed a strategy that saves the company 30% in third-party commission fees: the Vegan Food Hub App. With 33,000 VFH members, the service delivers food within 10 km of any store without giving away customers’ private data.
“We hope to build the world’s most compelling quick service brands, completely plant-based, and to do this, we need to master delivery. Delivery is the present and the future, and our time and investment in building a 33,000 membership database is our way of ensuring we keep our delivery business profitable and allow our customers to get access to cheaper prices. It’s a genuine win/win,” said Tewari.
