JaKarrea Walker is Founder of VegOut Atlanta, a Black-owned, woman-owned vegan marketplace. Walker is preparing to expand her business by opening a plant-based food court in the Spring of 2021. Soulphoodie, a community that celebrates black food and black culture recently posted about the planned opening, sharing a becauseofthemwecan.com article via twitter @soulphoodie. The article sited a report from VegNews.com which provided more detailed information about the planned opening and development of VegCourt.
“Though there are more vegan options becoming available, there lacks a consistent space where those who are vegan or seeking healthier food options can say, ‘Well, I know if I go here I can get a quick, quality, and fresh meal,’ explained Walker to VegNews.com. “There also lacks a space for local plant-based food providers who don’t have the money for the overhead of a restaurant or who want to focus on creating vegan meals to cater to their target market.” ” I wanted to create that space” said Walker.
Walker has already selected the first vendor for the VegCourt. “Its first confirmed vendor is Dot’s Vegan Sol, a concept making its debut at VegCourt that specializes in plant-based soul food such as banana cornbread, vegan salmon croquettes, conch fritters, and pigeon peas and rice” according to VegNews.com. Walker is curently in talks with other vendors to determine final selection of vegan food providers. According to VegNews.com the VegCourt will provide healthy alternatives for the community and offer “quick, fresh and innovative meals all in one place”.
JaKarrea Walker intends to raise $30,000 for development of the VegCourt. She has partnered with iFundWomen to crowdfund the project. Donations will go towards the building, commercial kitchen equipment, licenses, permits, insurance and more according to VegNews.com. “There are food courts and food halls for everyone else; why not one for us?” said Walker.
