The Signing
Slutty Vegan has signed a franchise agreement for Cincinnati, its third Ohio market, deepening the Atlanta-born plant-based fast-casual brand's midwest push and extending its partnership with Soul Republic Hospitality Group, the operator that already holds the Columbus and Cleveland development rights.
Soul Republic's founder, Akin Affrica, is the franchisee of record on all three agreements — a repeat-investment pattern that operators and franchise development teams typically read as a leading indicator of unit-level confidence. Address and opening timeline details for the Cincinnati location have not yet been disclosed; Columbus and Cleveland are scheduled to open in fall 2026.
Franchisee Signal
For a brand still in the early stages of its franchise buildout, having a single operator return for a third market is a notable data point. Affrica framed the Cincinnati commitment as demand-driven: after observing guest response in Columbus and Cleveland, he characterized adding the third market as a straightforward decision rooted in market familiarity.
Pinky Cole Hayes, Founder and CEO of Slutty Vegan, noted that a franchisee reinvesting in additional markets validates both brand equity and operator-level economics. "Ohio is primed for a concept like Slutty Vegan, and Cincinnati rounds out the top three markets in the state," Hayes said. The brand has made cultural cachet a deliberate part of its franchise pitch — positioning bold, community-driven experiences as a traffic driver that complements unit economics, a tactic fast-casual brands across the plant-based segment have leaned on to differentiate amid softening consumer demand for meat-alternative concepts more broadly.
Ohio Footprint
Slutty Vegan launched as a single food truck in Atlanta in 2018 before scaling into a brick-and-mortar fast-casual format and then moving into franchising. The brand operates locations across the United States, though the company has not publicly disclosed a total unit count or systemwide AUV figures. Its Ohio cluster — Columbus, Cleveland, and now Cincinnati — represents a concentrated state-level strategy, a market-by-market approach that allows an operator to build brand awareness and supply-chain efficiency before expanding across a broader geography.
The plant-based fast-casual segment has faced headwinds over the past two years, with category-wide traffic softness and some concept retrenchment as consumers have moderated interest in meat-alternative products. Slutty Vegan's positioning — centered on indulgent flavor profiles and high-energy unit experiences rather than health-forward messaging — differentiates it from commodity-protein-substitute concepts and may insulate it partially from broader plant-based fatigue. Whether that positioning translates into durable AUV performance at the Ohio units will be watched closely by prospective franchisees evaluating the brand's franchise development pipeline.
For multi-unit operators evaluating growth in the Midwest, Slutty Vegan's area development model — which pairs experienced operators with exclusive market rights — mirrors structures employed by emerging fast-casual brands across the plant-based and better-burger segments. Soul Republic Hospitality Group's three-market commitment in Ohio positions it as a regional anchor franchisee as the brand continues its national buildout.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
