PlantPub, a 100% plant-based sports bar, is to open a new 8,000 sq. ft. location in Boston, MA this spring, as a collaboration between celebrity chef Matthew Kenney and PlantPub’s co-owners, including prolific vegan investor Sebastiano Cossia Castiglioni.
Speaking to vegconomist today, Cossia Castiglioni commented: “We created PlantPub with Pat McAuley back in 2019. Based on a pop-up concept he had tested, we agreed that serving excellent vegan pub food in Boston would be a great idea. Then we were lucky to sign up Wonder Chef Mary Dumont. We opened in Cambridge, and immediately after Matthew Kenney (we are partners in all of his ventures) asked me to join us and expand. And here we are!”
The Boston Globe states that, upon opening, the 250+ seat venue would become the largest vegan sports bar in the world. The new venue, PlantPub Fenway, will be located across the street from the famed Fenway Park baseball stadium. PlantPub’s first, smaller location opened last fall in Kendall Square in Cambridge, MA.
PlantPub co-founders Pat McAuley and Mary Dumont say they crafted the restaurant’s menu to make plant-based eating more accessible to everyday sports fans. The current offerings include a smorgasbord of classic stadium fare such as burgers, wings, loaded nachos, pepperoni pizza and fried chicken sandwiches, as well as dozens of craft beer and cocktail selections.
The upcoming Fenway location will serve all of PlantPub’s favorites, plus a larger dessert menu of sundaes, frappes, and ice cream sandwiches. The restaurant is also planning to add a vegan version of the popular Fenway Frank hotdog, the owners say.
“A perfect fit”
In an interview, Chef Kenney revealed he originally signed the lease for the Fenway property, located at the site of a shuttered Boston BeerWorks. However, after learning PlantPub’s owners were also looking at the space in hopes of expansion, he decided to partner.
”I loved what they were doing — the product, the brand … it just seemed like a perfect fit,” Kenney told the Globe. “Fenway is ground zero in Boston and we couldn’t think of a better location to showcase the fact that plant-based cuisine can be really crave-able and fulfilling and satisfying.”