Success comes with its moments, and Pinky Cole Hayes knows this firsthand.
Cole Hayes is the mastermind behind Slutty Vegan restaurant, with seven locations, primarily in Georgia. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, the company’s market value was estimated at nearly $100 million by 2022, which included $25 million from a Series A funding round.
Over the years, the company’s triumphs included expanding to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Spelman College, although the location at the HBCU has since closed. Cole Hayes has experienced roadblocks with the venture in 2024, and those challenges led to her losing the business, she told People.
“Right now, in this moment, I’ve really been in a place of peace, but I had a really rocky 2024. Our corporate overhead was about $10 million,” Cole Hayes mentioned to People. “I was chasing something that I couldn’t catch for so many reasons.”
Cole Hayes also acknowledged that she had not been “the operational person,” which has led to the realization that “You can never take your hands off the wheel.”
On Feb. 13, 2025, Slutty Vegan went through a global restructuring, resulting in her no longer owning the company.
“The last couple of months, it’s probably been the most incredibly difficult of my entrepreneurial life. As of Feb. 13, the company went through a global restructure. And as a result of that, that meant that I no longer own the company,” she said in a video shared on Instagram. “I have gone through every emotion imaginable — Grief, sadness, fear, depression, uncertainty. What a lot of us entrepreneurs go through, I have gone through. But I realized that as long as I continue to stick to my faith, God will always be by my side. And as hard as change is, it is necessary, but it’s always for the good.”
On March 28, 2025, Cole was able to buy back her company under the name “Ain’t Nobody Coming to See You, Otis LLC” — a quote from the popular 1998 film “The Temptations.”
As for what’s next, the founder plans for the restaurant to be led by “new rules and new intentions.” She’s onboarding a new group of investors for the restaurant’s next era, which includes plans to expand beyond the U.S. to areas such as Dubai and Africa.
“People love Slutty Vegan because they love me, and I used to not tap into that, but I [now] know I have a superpower with people,” she told People. “People love me, so I know that people are going to support and back me in whatever it is that I authentically do.”
