‘I Lost A Lot Of Money:’ Tabitha Brown Had To Close Her L.A.-Based Vegan Restaurant In Less Than One Year, But Here’s What She Learned – AfroTech
Tabitha Brown gained something more valuable than dollars when she closed her vegan restaurant in Los Angeles.
Kale My Name
Back in 2021, it was announced that the social media personality and serial entrepreneur was entering the restaurant business with Kale My Name, a vegan concept that had already found success in Chicago, Eater reports. The restaurant is the brainchild of Nemanja Nekac Golubovic.
During an interview on the “Not My Best Moment” podcast hosted by KevOnStage, Brown admitted she had fallen in love with the restaurant while she was living in Chicago for a couple of months.
“I went and and did a video for him that went viral, changed his whole life, his whole business. Just blessed him, and I was so grateful for that. And one day I was like, ‘You know what? If he ever wanted to open one in L.A., I would partner with them,’” she revealed on the podcast. “Now, mind you, I ain’t never did a restaurant business. Never had done did that. I happened to walk in that day and after having that thought, he came and sat at the tables. Me and one of my girlfriends were there visiting and he was like … ‘You know, I’ve been thinking I want to open maybe in L.A. ‘I said, ‘This is my sign from the Lord. This is it.’”
“We want to bless our friends and family. Sometimes we can put them in a position that they are not ready to be put in, and you are not ready to put them there,” Brown said on “Not My Best Moment.” “They don’t have the skill set to win. So you actually set them up to fail while setting yourself up to fail. … I maybe put some people in position that I shouldn’t have and with the budget that we didn’t have.”
Ultimately, the bigger issue was that the foundation of the building was not sturdy, Brown shared. Quite literally, portions of the ceiling would come crashing down, and tenants reportedly confirmed that many renters didn’t stay in the building that long because of its ongoing issues.
“I can’t have a kitchen with food that people say ‘This is Tabitha Brown’ and a ceiling is falling and stuff is falling into this food. I can’t take that risk,” Brown said. “And I can’t take the risk of this building not being up to code. I can’t take the risk for the auditors coming in and us being audited. … This is my name on the line. Although it is Kale My Name, I’m going to have to take this loss because I just can’t risk it.”
After eight months in business, Brown decided to pull the plug on the venture, she told the podcast. Her decision came after another portion of the ceiling collapsed, and she said she felt convinced by the Holy Spirit that she was never meant to move forward with the building or, likely, with opening the restaurant.
“Unfortunately I lost friendships because of this restaurant — but not necessarily because of the restaurant. It really revealed true friendship. I lost a lot of money,” she shared.
Learning Lesson
However, it wasn’t a total loss.
