San Antonio-primarily based vegan quickly meals chain Project Pollo will shut most of its dining places in the coming weeks thanks to an acquisition by an unidentified countrywide franchise group, its founder and CEO said.
“This is a bittersweet moment as a founder,” Lucas Bradbury wrote on social media. “On a person hand, a big earn, and on the other, slipping small of the mission we established out to attain … it has been absolutely nothing limited of an outstanding journey and we are grateful to the community that has been such a substantial element of our accomplishment.”
On ExpressNews.com: Vegan ‘chicken’ sandwiches at Job Pollo’s San Antonio food truck are superior than Chick-fil-A they’re worth a generate
The unidentified team has approached Project Pollo about obtaining its infrastructure and actual estate, which incorporates practically a fifty percent-dozen Challenge Pollo and Facet Chicks locations in San Antonio, Austin and Dallas, Bradbury stated.
“Basically, they wanted anything we had constructed except for the vegan food items,” Bradbury said.
In San Antonio, exactly where the chain has a few locations, the 9390 Huebner Street cafe is previously closed, the 303 San Pedro Ave. restaurant will shut April 16, and the 9519 San Pedro Ave. cafe will near April 30. The Dallas place at 4814 Greenville Ave. will close April 30, and a closing day for the cafe at 2438 W. Anderson Lane in Austin has not been declared.
Consumers can use present playing cards at the places to eat, as very well as situations, festivals and pop-ups, and through Task Pollo’s web site starting May 1, Bradbury reported.
The menu at the Undertaking Pollo’a vegan hen trailer. The quickly-meals chain has been acquired by a nationwide franchise group.
Mike Sutter /WorkersProject Pollo will retain its cafe at 1401 Rosewood Ave. in Austin due to the fact it is much too tiny for the consumer and will go on serving vegan food items there, while the title of the establishment could improve, Bradbury claimed.
Prospects expressed confusion on social media about what the acquisition indicates for Project Pollo, and mourned the closure of the short-lived chain.
Job Pollo started off in September 2020 with a foods truck outside Roadmap Brewing Co. downtown, where it served sandwiches, wraps and other objects made with a plant-based mostly protein.
The business expanded speedily. It opened about a dozen dining places in Texas’ important metropolitan regions by mid-2022 with ideas for additional, Bradbury informed investors when he appeared last 12 months on the ABC show “Shark Tank,” exactly where entrepreneurs pitch tips to a handful of investors identified as sharks.
“We’re heading as quick as we possibly can,” he claimed.
But much more lately, Task Pollo has scaled back.
On “Shark Tank,” Bradbury requested for $2.5 million for 5 p.c equity in his company, but the traders balked at the $50 million valuation and the rapid rate of the chain’s enlargement.
Job Pollo has been shuttering areas in regions such as Alamo Ranch, Stone Oak, Katy and Round Rock, as perfectly as its flagship food items truck downtown. It rolled out a new concept with genuine chicken named Facet Chicks, which displeased some of its vegan prospects.
In a March put up reflecting on the past yr, Bradbury reported Job Pollo “fell brief in 1,000 diverse areas” and was having difficulties with high inflation that experienced pushed up charges.
He stated he experienced discovered to “keep escalating, but only when leadership and industry are ready” and would be more selective about wherever and how several spots to open up. He was centered on implementing proprietor-operated areas, “virtual kitchens” for shipping options and partnerships with nationwide models, as nicely as a probable deal to sell some of its less than-doing places.
Bradbury was not offered for comment in advance of publication.
