Vegan food truck Soulgood will offer its Classic American eats to 75,000 people at the upcoming NFL Fan Festival Draft Experience at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, April 26-28.
Despite this free football event being a long-standing affair, there was a gap for vegan food available, chef Cynthia Nevels, the founder of Soulgood, told LIVEKINDLY.
“We have never seen a vegan food provider at AT&T Stadium and several of our Soulgood fans reached out to us via social media to encourage us to apply to be a vendor for the upcoming event,” Nevels explained. Following these requests, the business then made a successful pitch for a spot at the festival, sharing why diversity and variety would be beneficial to the event with the organizers: C3 Presents and the NFL.
Naked Dogs (a vegan hot dog on a vegan wheat bun) and Dressed Dogs (served with organic sweet relish, organic sauerkraut, organic banana peppers), are both included on the plant-based menu. Other options include Vin Diezel Chili Dogs (served with organic sweet relish, organic sauerkraut, organic banana peppers, vegan chili and vegan shredded cheese), and Fruitcups, also known as vegan cupcakes (flavors are Lemonny Snippet, Chocolate Almond, and Holy Cookies ‘n Cream).
Soulgood first launched as a pop-up kitchen at the local Dallas Farmers Market. Since its opening day on Halloween four years ago, the business’s popularity in North Texas has grown astronomically, Nevels said.
“More than 80% of customers are omnivores looking for healthy food options, are curious about the vegan lifestyle or have recently transitioned to the vegan lifestyle and are starved for convenient and fast food options,” says Nevels. Customers are also enticed by the interactive wall on the food truck, free for people to share their stories.
For Soulgood, profit is not the central objective that drives operations. Nevels, whose motto is Your Health Matters, stated the company “wouldn’t work this hard every day if [the health of customers] didn’t matter to us.”
Soulgood donates 5% of profits to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and other local charities. This cause is close to Nevels’ heart, as her late son was born with the hereditary disorder. “He is the reason why Soulgood exists today,” the founder explained. Nevels’ son spent two years waiting for a double organ transplant. During this time, the chef began making whole-foods, plant-based recipes – using the philosophy “let food be thy medicine.” Nevels hopes more hospitals will reflect a similar belief in their food policies.
More vegan food trucks, including solar-powered trucks, are on the cards for Soulgood and a vegan dessert business is also being planned. Additionally, the business intends to sell wholesale, premium, organic deli sandwiches to retail food markets.
Until then, “[they’re] right there ready to serve the people food that is good for the soul.”
Image Credit: SoulGood | Madison Lardy
