MEET ZACH VOUGA OF PLANT POWER FAST FOOD
PRIOR TO PLANT POWER, PRIOR TO BEING A FULL-FLEDGED ADULT, WAS OPENING A RESTAURANT OR WORKING IN THE FOOD SPACE SOMETHING YOU HAD ALWAYS DESIRED? WHEN DID THAT MOMENT OF “OH YEAH, THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO DO” STRIKE YOU?
In short, no. I always had a love for food, which eventually presented itself as an undiscovered passion, but growing up in a family of attorneys, I had my mind set on becoming one myself and felt it was something I was destined for. I studied political science in college and the further I went down that road, the more I realized it wasn’t something that motivated me. In 2011, I paused my scholastic journey and moved to San Diego, where I started working at a restaurant called Evolution Fast Food—the world’s first vegan drive-thru. Through Evolution, I witnessed and felt firsthand the impact a vegan restaurant could possess.
The concept immediately clicked with me—the potential it had for social change—especially if scaled and proliferated across the country. Despite the long, physically demanding hours, it never felt like work. It
