Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Anthony Lagrosa, owner of Vegan MAJJAC, located in Las Vegas, NV, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Our Business is a Vegan Collective Restaurant. Our customers are vegans and curious plant-based eaters. We have a collective kitchen; basically, we recruit other popups that need a restaurant and have our kitchen be used as an incubator. We, as Vegan MAJJAC, also have our own menu base that we feature along with our other brand ROLL THE VEG. We help support and, on some occasions, develop and guide other popups to function as a restaurant. With the amount of small vegan businesses closing continually because of high overhead, we wanted to help the community by trying to help either have great vegan food be available from these great vendors or help keep some of them open. We urge the community to help support this little vegan community kitchen/ restaurant that we have. It's investing more than just one business; it's supporting great chefs great popup vendors.

Tell us about yourself

We started selling vegan food during the pandemic, taking orders from friends via social media; due to being unemployed and my wife unable to get employed, we were able to survive financial triumph through the support of the vegan community and the community in general. We grew in a request for food there; we took a chance in having my mom finance our first food venue ROLL THE VEG.

Though we continue to grow as ROLL THE VEG, we noticed that some of the small businesses like us in the vegan community started closing down, so we started to inquire for spaces and was able to manage to get the blessing of a local bar manager and owner for us to sublease their kitchen.

And from there, we made it our mission to grow and help other vegan food businesses to grow or stay afloat; we are paying it forward as the community did the same for us at the beginning of our venture. We wanted to show our gratitude and thanks to the community by honoring them with us sharing our kitchen to ensure that there are more vegan chefs and vendors staying open.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Our biggest accomplishment as a business owner was starting out in the kitchen of our home to never imagined being a restaurant and a popup food venue.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

A lot of monetary and time sacrifices, we are just so thankful that there is my mom and the community that helps us stay afloat.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Stay focused and positive, be patient and time and savings is a sacrifice that is necessary to move forward.
  2. Use failed attempts of anything, whether marketing or menu development, as a learning tool to succeed on your next attempt.
  3. Be kind and genuine to others as it is a reflection of what you do, and it shows what drives you.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

As a business, if you are growing, it is because of the community give back to the community that helps you stay ahead. Always remember that people started their business to support their passion, be original, shouldn't copy people's recipes and menus. Because then there is no passion behind it. Be creative, feature your own passion. It will pay off in the long run because it will truly show in your work that it is truly yours, and you can take ownership of it and be proud.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.veganmajjac.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/veganmajjac
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vegan_majjac/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-lagrosa-a4b6154a/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

Feel inspired to start, run or grow your own subscription business? Check out subkit.com and learn how you can turn "one day" into day one.