Slutty Vegan CEO Pinky Cole will appear in Birmingham this weekend at Avondale Gallery and Loft for a ticketed lunch event and public book signing.

The vegan restauranteur is not just known for her multiple Slutty Vegan locations, but also her Bar Vegan location in Atlanta, philanthropy work, and teaming up with her husband Derrick Hayes on other vegan business ventures.

Since Cole opened the Birmingham Slutty Vegan location, the first outside of Atlanta, she has opened other locations in Dallas and New York City. However, she makes it clear that Birmingham was where she had to learn all the ropes of opening a restaurant in another city, and it set her up for success in opening her other out-of-state locations.

“Birmingham was the springboard to be able to identify things will be different…I was used to Atlanta systems, county and state taxes. So coming to Alabama, the laws and permits are set up differently,” Cole told AL.com. “So there were a lot of learning curves that took us over a year to be able to identify. But now, I feel like we have arrived and we’re past the toddler stage.”

Last summer, the Birmingham Slutty Vegan location was vandalized after someone threw a brick through the glass entrance door. Cole said they didn’t open an investigation.

“The reality of it is there’s so much going on, and we have insurance,” she said. “It was unfortunate, but it allowed us to focus on best practices. So we installed shatter proof windows and doors in our restaurants. I have a policy that when s–t happens, we put policy in place. So when things happen in my businesses, we just learn from them.”

The location was also temporarily closed for about a week at the end of 2022 and early 2023 due to “an unforeseen mechanical issue.” But when AL.com asked Cole about how the business has performed since opening in Birmingham, she said the restaurant meets her expectations.

“Birmingham Slutty Vegan is actually profitable,” Cole said. “That is one of my profitable locations. Which I’m happy about because if you know anything about the restaurant industry, restaurants aren’t profitable. We have new management in place, we have new team members in place. We have a good group of people. I don’t have to worry about Birmingham the store because I have people properly running the store.”

In the last few years, Cole’s personal life has drastically changed with the having three kids in three years and getting married to Hayes last summer. She mentioned that the transition has taken her away from her businesses, but plans to be back in full force in 2024.

“I had other people running the business. I just came back to run the day to day operations,” she said. “My motto for 2024 is ‘get that old thang back.’”

She offered advice to mommy hustlers who are trying to balance it all:

“Some people may not like this advice, but if you are an entrepreneur, a creative, or work a 9-to-5, utilize your money in a way that will bring you a peace of mind. Money shouldn’t just only buy clothes, money shouldn’t just only pay rent. Money should allow you the ability to hire some body to do your laundry so you can lock in on business. Money is going to give you the ability to hire a night nanny, so you can get some rest if you’re a newborn mom. Money is going to give you the ability to be able hire an assistant, so that you can focus on making the main thing the main thing and going out and speaking, and representing your brand. So that you can get to a space afford to have money, all you got to do is prioritize where your money goes.”

Cole also offered advice to Birmingham restauranteurs:

“Always be a student. Even for me, with six years of Slutty Vegan, I still don’t know what I don’t know. You should always be a student. You should always try to learn how to be a better operator of a better business. Gone are the times that we’re running mom and pop shops. Even if the business is small, even if there isn’t a lot of revenue, we treat our brands like billion dollar brands because you never know who is watching.”