Pinky Cole, Owner of Plant-Based Restaurant Chain Slutty Vegan, Files for Bankruptcy
Months after buying back Slutty Vegan, her cult-favourite plant-based burger chain, Pinky Cole has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
US fast-food chain Slutty Vegan is under the gun again.
Following a highly turbulent period for the business, which briefly entered insolvency before kickstarting its current franchise model, founder and owner Pinky Cole has now filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Georgia.
The court filing shows that she owes $1.2M to the US Small Business Administration, and another $192,000 in taxes to the Georgia Department of Revenue. She further faces foreclosure on a $140,000 investment property.
Cole, who last week joined the cast for season 17 of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, identified herself as “unemployed” in the document. The move is tied to the entrepreneur, rather than her business, although Slutty Vegan may well be affected, given she owns 85% of the chain.
Slutty Vegan’s rollercoaster ride
A former TV producer, Cole first founded Slutty Vegan in 2018 as a food truck, two years after her previous restaurant in Harlem, New York was destroyed by a fire. Her first brick-and-mortar location opened its doors just outside of Atlanta in 2019, and in the years that followed, she built it into one of America’s most popular vegan chains.
The company made a name for itself through provocative and highly effective marketing, with menu items like the One Night Stand bacon cheeseburger, Hollywood Hooker cheesesteak, and fries with its signature Slutty Dust seasoning.
In 2022, the business raised $25M at a $100M valuation, led by Shake Shack founder Danny Meyer’s Enlightened Hospitality Investments and Essence Ventures CEO Richelieu Dennis’ New Voice Fund. The capital was to be used for Slutty Vegan’s expansion to 20 locations – at the time, it had five restaurants, and it eventually scaled to 14.
However, the restaurant group experienced several challenges in the last couple of years. In 2024, it was $20M in debt and burning through $100,000 a week amid mounting overheads and cash flow issues. It forced Cole to file for insolvency in early 2025 via a process called an assignment for the benefit of creditors (ABC).
This allows financially distressed companies to sell their assets to third parties, serving as an alternative to formal bankruptcy. Slutty Vegan subsequently underwent a restructuring and a complete corporate overhaul, with several of its locations closed. This had come shortly after Cole met with a near-fatal accident while driving on an Atlanta highway.
A month after the ABC filing, Cole regained control of the chain through a new parent company, Ain’t Nobody Coming To See You Otis, buying back the Slutty Vegan name and intellectual property, and returning to the CEO role she had initially left in 2021. Soon after, the entrepreneur turned the business into a franchise model – today, it operates six locations, alongside a site for its offshoot, Bar Vegan.
Pinky Cole expects ‘more growth and opportunities’ after bankruptcy filing
Despite her return to Slutty Vegan’s helm, Cole has continued to face financial challenges. In August, she was sued by the landlord for two Slutty Vegan locations in Atlanta, who alleged more than $87,000 in past due rent, late fees, and interest.
She also faces a wage claim in Fulton County and a real estate claim in Texas, and has a levied PayPal account. According to the Chapter 11 filing, her combined monthly expenses total $41,700, against an income of $14,583.
Cole had previously attempted to file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, a form of personal bankruptcy that allows a person with a regular income to reorganize and repay their debts over time under a court-approved plan. But this was dismissed by the court over Cole’s failure to pay its filing fee.
The eventual Chapter 11 document lists her total assets at $3.75M, including nearly $2.9M in real estate holdings, such as her primary residence and several investment properties. Her personal property is valued at a further $854,000, covering her French bulldog, household goods and electronics, artwork, jewellery, and more.
In a note about her future income expectations, the Slutty Vegan owner wrote that she anticipated “more growth and opportunities”. According to WSB-TV, a bankruptcy teleconference is scheduled for March 12, and a repayment plan is due by June 12.
Cole and Slutty Vegan’s struggles aren’t isolated from the larger restaurant industry, which continues to battle rising costs, shrinking margins, and shifting consumer habits. In the US, three in five restaurant operators reported a decline in traffic in 2025, and 45% were unable to turn a profit.
While some choose to highlight the trials of vegan eateries, from Planta’s bankruptcy to the closure of outposts like Hart House to Eleven Madison Park’s reintroduction of meat, these challenges are plaguing restaurants of all kinds.
It’s why Denny’s shuttered 70-90 stores last year, Papa John’s closed 62 (plus another 111 globally), and Jack in the Box shut 80-120 (with more to come this year). Likewise, in 2026, Pizza Hut will close 250 locations, and Starbucks and Wendy’s will bid adieu to over 500 of their sites.