Spring Events and Spring Cleaning

Remember Project Pollo? The founder, Lucas Bradbury, had promised to expand the Project Pollo franchise far and wide to provide vegan fast food at a decent price. But their exit was far from pretty. Not only was the funding spent too fast, too soon, just less than a year of opening their Dallas location, they closed down. And several months coming up to their closure, multiple stories from ex-employees were piling up on Facebook groups and Instagram comments, warning us of the business venture and their failure to pay employees and even ghosting them. Several customers had also bought gift cards for friends and family, yet found themselves left “on read” when it came to asking Project Pollo for refunds on their costly gift cards.

After their failure as a vegan venture, the founder revamped and went on to start Side Chicks, which was a slap in the face for vegans: an omni restaurant that provided plant-based options. Clearly the founder was never in it for the veganism, which was not surprising, but nevertheless disappointing. Many vegans stopped following by this point, including myself. At some point, that closed down, too.

Around this time, hose who followed his personal account, came across videos of him talking about how meat is important to a diet and how delicious it is. Bless.

Well, they’re making headlines in the Austin vegan community again. A few months ago, I ran across a page called, EVO, on Facebook. It seemed to be a new startup that had a couple of vegan options, and because it wasn’t local to Dallas, I thought nothing of it and put that vegan nugget of information in my back pocket.

Fast forward to today. Someone tagged me in post of a video showing Mr. Bradbury talking about his favorite meat burrito on the EVO menu. So, it looks like EVO was Bradbury’s all along! Now will it flop like the rest?

Those that still follow the now defunct Project Pollo account may find themselves accidentally following EVO and seeing this nice little video. So let’s do some spring cleaning on account follows, unless, of course, you like seeing the drama unfold!

I will be at next listed event, The Poppin’ Vegan’s Vegan BrewFest hosted at Four Corners Brewing, supporting local vendors and maybe spreading the word on DVI as a go-to vegan resource. Hope to see you there.

Dallas Soul Food Festival coordinators have confirmed two vegan vendors for the event, Charmed By Missa and Sunshine Heaven Foods, who appears to be new to the scene. The latter will have vegan catfish and vegan cornbread, yum!

Don’t forget! You can find the link to social meetup groups on my Linktree.

• Swirled Peace is now carrying Pizza Verde’s frozen pizza for sale at their location! This is an addition to last week’s announcement that Reverie Bakeshop will be selling these same frozen pies at their brick and mortar. Congratulations, Dallas and Richardson!

  

• Chef Mercardo’s Kitchen is offering an Easter menu.

• Compatible Delights will be vending at Black on the Block on Sunday, March 23 between 1-7 PM. While I’m unable to confirm if there are other vegan vendors, I’m happy to report that if you are attending the event, you will not go hungry!

• Don’t forget about Da Munchies in DeSoto at The Greenhouse Lounge! I’ve requested for an official post with hours of operation for them now that the location will be officially opening. You can find more information on their latest video here.

Planted Patisserie

New Kid on the Block! Planted Patisserie made their debut this weekend at Fort Worth VegFest with a immensely popular foccacia and elote foccacia bread sandwiches that were sold out in the first hour. Even I didn’t get my hands on it! They were also so sweet to provide treats that both cats and dogs could enjoy! If you missed your chance, they will be at this weekend’s The Underground Market on Greenville Ave in Dallas from 11-5 or until sold out.

Pure Skin Studio

Are you a self-care guy or girlie? Did you know that many skin care products used by aestheticians aren’t vegan or cruelty-free? This is not an issue at Pure Skin Studio in Frisco! Monica, who I had the pleasure of meeting during the Vegan Networking Potluck, knows the ins and outs of skin care while not sacrificing her or your values! Check out her intro post below.

Cloven Heart Farm Sanctuary and North Texas Wildlife have asked for donations for some emergency situations this past week. Sharing is caring as they say! Please take a look at their posts below to assist if you can:

Noah the sheet has a large lump that has grown since February. He needs a trip to the vet for an exam and x-rays.

North Texas Wildlife is filled to the brim with baby squirrels this season and need help with purchasing baby squirrel formula..

Both of these sanctuaries and rehabilitation centers are always looking for heroes to set up monthly donations. Be a hero to the animals!