Let me tell you why I’m doing this.

When I first moved to Sacramento I wasn’t even vegan yet. I lived right by this restaurant called El Papagayo and I just loved their food. And then I went vegan and it was honestly one of the first places I went back to. I needed to know if they had options for me. They did. Yay!

Then the Vegan Chef Challenge came around and everything changed.

The Vegan Chef Challenge is a month-long event by Vegan Outreach where restaurants across the city create brand new vegan dishes and in return, Vegan Outreach and the local organizing team promote the heck out of them. The community gets to check out menus on the Vegan Outreach page, on social media, and at the restaurants themselves. You find something that looks amazing, you go try it, and then you vote for your favorites. Any restaurant can join, not just vegan ones. That’s the whole point.

And Sacramento went off. I discovered Carlton of Vegan Van 916, a private chef who made this pineapple burger that I will never forget. I tried vegan Indian pizza. Broderick Burger made their own cheese from scratch and served this massive handmade burger with spicy pickles that was unreal. Some of my favorite spots participated and added twists to their menus or created totally new dishes that I’d vote for hoping they’d keep them on the menu after the challenge. Sometimes they did. Sometimes I’d go back and ask them to please add it permanently and they’d tell me so many people had already requested the same thing.

But honestly the best part wasn’t even the food. It was watching the whole city come together over it. People were discovering restaurants they had no idea existed. Neighborhoods were getting explored. You’d be sitting at a restaurant and end up talking to the person next to you about what they’d tried so far and trading recommendations. Total strangers swapping favorite dishes and telling each other which spots to hit next. It just became this natural conversation starter everywhere you went.

When I moved to Asheville I kept waiting for it to show up here. It never did. Because nobody had ever brought it here.

So I did the research, reached out to Vegan Outreach, and now here I am. I’m the lead organizer for Asheville’s first ever Vegan Chef Challenge, launching June 2026. I’m beyond excited.

Okay So How Does It Actually Work

Local restaurants, food trucks, cafes, bakeries, really any food business in the Asheville area signs up to participate. They create 1 to 3 new vegan dishes to put on their menu for the entire month of June. Not dishes that are already on the menu. Brand new ones. That’s what makes it a challenge.

Then you show up. You eat at as many participating spots as you can throughout the month and you vote for your favorites. At the end of the month votes get tallied and winners are announced at an awards ceremony.

Chefs compete. You eat. Everybody wins.

What Restaurants Actually Get

This is the part that gets me fired up because the benefits for restaurants are so real.

Every restaurant that signs up gets a dedicated welcome post on social media plus another post highlighting their menu during the challenge. They get professionally designed marketing materials delivered right to them: posters, table tents for their tables, and buttons for their staff. Their name goes on posters that get put up all around town. They get included in press releases sent to local media. Some restaurants end up getting featured on local TV, radio, or in news publications.

The participation donation is $50 and that covers all their materials. If you own multiple spots it’s $35 each. And if the fee is a barrier it can be waived. This isn’t about money. It’s about getting as many Asheville restaurants involved as possible.

And the results from other cities are wild. In Bloomington, Illinois, their very first year brought in 15 restaurants and 38% of them added permanent vegan options to their menus after the challenge ended. One pizza shop reported selling over 400 special menu items in a single month and attracting a bunch of new customers. Sacramento has been running their challenge for 14 years now with 40 to 55 restaurants participating every year. Restaurants there have reported up to a 25% increase in sales during the challenge.

Here’s something restaurants don’t always think about either. When a group of friends is picking a place to eat and even one person in the group is vegan, the whole group tends to pick a restaurant with solid vegan options. So you’re not just attracting vegans. You’re getting their friends, their families, and every food-curious person who sees the buzz and wants in.

What You Get as a Diner

This is the fun part. For the whole month of June you basically have an excuse to eat out at a new spot every week. Or every day. I’m not judging.

You try dishes you never would have ordered. You discover restaurants you didn’t know about. You vote and actually have a say in who wins. There’s a Diner Passport that works like a checklist of all the participating restaurants. Hit enough of them and you become a Super Voter, which means you get to submit more detailed feedback and might even get invited to the awards celebration.

And the awards are great because there are so many of them. First Place, Second Place, Third Place obviously. But also Best Appetizer, Best Dessert, Most Creative Dish, Best Presentation, Best Overall Menu, Best Value, Diner’s Favorite, and even awards for Outstanding Waitstaff. Every single restaurant that participates gets recognized. The goal is to celebrate the creativity and the effort and the fact that these chefs said yes to trying something new.

The awards ceremony is its own event. Chefs bring samples of their most popular dishes from the challenge, the community comes together, and we get to celebrate everyone who made it happen.

Why Asheville Though

I mean come on. This city was made for this.

Asheville already has one of the most incredible food scenes in the Southeast. The creativity is here. The love for local businesses is here. The curiosity about plant-based food is here. All the ingredients are already in place. (Pun intended.)

I’m already learning so much just from talking to people during the planning process. Someone told me about an Ethiopian restaurant with amazing vegan options that I had no idea about. That right there is exactly what this challenge is about. Discovering the places that have been here the whole time.

And it’s not just Asheville proper. I’m reaching out to restaurants across the whole metro including Weaverville, Black Mountain, Swannanoa, Arden, Fletcher, Woodfin, Candler, Leicester, and Mills River. The more spots involved the better it is for everyone.

What I’m Doing Behind the Scenes

I want to be real about what this looks like from my end because I think it’s important.

I’m personally going to restaurants, introducing myself, explaining the challenge, and delivering invite folders. I’m building the outreach list, tracking who I’ve talked to, following up. I’m working with Vegan Outreach who provides amazing support with marketing materials, social media graphics, the voting platform, and press releases. I’m recruiting volunteers. I’m reaching out to local sponsors. I’m putting my research and marketing background into finding the restaurants that people love here and making sure they know about this opportunity.

It’s a lot of work. But I love it. I’ve seen what the Vegan Chef Challenge does for a community and I want that for Asheville so badly.

This Is My Love Letter to Asheville

I know that sounds cheesy but I don’t care. It’s true.

I moved here and fell in love with the food scene, the independent spirit, and how much people genuinely care about supporting local. The Vegan Chef Challenge takes all of that and turns it up. More options for everyone. More customers for restaurants. More reasons to get out and explore your own city.

June 2026. Asheville’s first ever Vegan Chef Challenge.

I want this to be something people look forward to, something people remember, and eventually something that becomes a tradition the way it did in Sacramento.

I hope you’ll be a part of it.

The Asheville Vegan Chef Challenge runs the entire month of June 2026. Visit veganchefchallenge.org/Asheville to learn more. Restaurants interested in participating can sign up through the Chef Interest Form on the website. Vegezy is a proud orgnizer of the Asheville VCC.

I’m Bringing the Vegan Chef Challenge to Asheville