‘I am who I am because of my city’: Pinky Cole to bring Slutty Vegan location to Baltimore

Slutty Vegan is finally coming home.

After months of hinting that a Baltimore location was in the works, entrepreneur Aisha “Pinky” Cole said she plans to bring a new location of her popular vegan burger restaurant to Baltimore.

“I may or I may not have a location in Baltimore that I may or may not be announcing very soon,” she teased in a video clip shared on Instagram Live Friday morning. The clip was from an interview recorded with the radio station 92Q. Cole said: “I gotta come back home … I am who I am because of my city.”

The post popped up hours before Cole was set to appear on Baltimore Soundstage in an evening show that sold out Friday morning. The appearance is the last stop on her five-city “Pinky Cole Experience” tour, promoting her vegan cookbook entitled “Eat Plants, B*tch.”

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NEW YORK, NEW YORK — Nov. 14: Pinky Cole attends the Pinky Cole Experience Tour at Gramercy Theatre on November 14, 2022 in New York City. (Dominik Bindl/Getty Images)

With tasty vegan burgers and incredibly savvy use of social media, Cole and her business have attracted high-profile fans like Tyler Perry and investors like restaurateur Danny Meyer, whose Enlightened Hospitality Investments helped provide Slutty Vegan with $25 million to cover its expansion.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Cole’s eatery has multiple locations in Georgia as well as branches in Alabama and one in Brooklyn, New York. A Harlem location is coming soon, according to the company website.

Rumors have circulated since earlier this year that Slutty Vegan would be coming to Baltimore, specifically to Northwood Commons, a new development near Morgan State University, an HBCU. Developers MCB Real Estate did not respond to requests for comment.

Cole confirmed the Baltimore location in an interview with The Baltimore Sun, but an article did not include the location. A spokesperson for Slutty Vegan did not respond to an interview request from The Baltimore Banner.

According to The Baltimore Sun, Cole grew up on Cedonia Avenue and attended both City College and Western High School. She graduated from the HBCU Clark Atlanta University in Georgia. In the interview with 92Q, Cole expressed her love for HBCUs and the desire to come to Coppin State University or Morgan State University.

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It’s not the first time Cole had teased a future Charm City location. Prior to a pop-up at Hampden’s Whitehall Mill this March, she said in a statement, “I couldn’t be more excited to finally sluttify my hometown of Baltimore.”

According to a Sun article at the time, she said: “Who knows … if we sell out of burgers, we may just have to open a location here!” Developers for Whitehall Mill could not immediately be reached.

The timeline for the new restaurant in Baltimore is unclear. Online records for the state do not list Slutty Vegan as a registered business in Maryland.

This article may be updated.

Baltimore Banner writer Lawrence Burney contributed to this article.

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christina.tkacik@thebaltimorebanner.com

Christina Tkacik

christina.tkacik@thebaltimorebanner.com