Today we’d like to introduce you to Jesse Hernandez.
Jesse, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started Veegos after I made the decision to stop eating animal products and animal meat. When you go plant based you are forced to cook more in the kitchen and that’s when I thought about possibly bringing some of these dishes to others that were curious about veganism.
A lot of my friends and people I know would always ask me what I would eat, and if I only ate salads and fruit, etc. This was probably my main motivation to begin doing pop ups as Veegos.
I first came up with the name, it was a name that had been in my head for a while and I thought that was weird too lol. After that, I began canvassing different businesses to see who would allow me to setup shop and sell food in front of their property for a few hours here and there.
I was having a couple of beers with a friend at home one day and I cooked some of our vegan pastor. We were making tacos when it hit me. Why don’t I go to a brewery!
I reached out to many breweries, some said sure, some said to kick rocks lol. Point is, vegan tacos with a cold beer was a hit! We began doing more and more popups at different breweries and eventually, we heard through a friend named Lorena about a Vietnamese Bahn mi spot that was available to rent.
We tried out the spot for about 3 months and quickly outgrew the place and began plans to find a bigger spot we could call our permeant home. It was at that point that our Realtor Tasha Bason found us the spot we are at now. We are currently learning new things day after day. The Covid pandemic really took a huge toll on us since we were such a new business. Till this day we battle with supply shortage, and staffing. But we continue to push hard and strong and we can see that things are getting better little by little.
Our future plans include adding beer and a margarita machine to our Westheimer location, and we are also looking at a few potential locations with drive-thru. We would like to take this opportunity to hugely thank everyone who has supported us and those who have been with us throughout this whole time. We appreciate you greatly!
We will continue on our mission to bring awareness to the world that living a plant based/vegan lifestyle is not boring or bland 0r flavorless. It’s fun. It’s delicious. And mainly there’s nothing like living everyday knowing you didn’t contribute to the killing of animals. You can definitely survive on a vegan diet, you can even be a bodybuilder on a vegan diet!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
In the beginning, it was a little smooth. All of that changed when we have the Covid 19 outbreak.
The pandemic almost shut our doors. We did everything we could to keep the doors open for business.
Along with the pandemic came shortages of products like one of our main items, Jackfruit. It has become nearly impossible to obtain it at times and it hurts us to see our customers so upset they leave us 1-star reviews because of it. We really try our best but sometimes we just cannot get ahold of it.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
What I love the most about what I do is seeing the reactions I get from when people try the food for the first time and you see the surprise in them and joy from how delicious the food is while being plant based.
You first have to understand that vegan food has a bad name for being bland and flavorless. That’s where we step in to change that. We want people to know that you can cook food at home and just add your own seasoning and flavors and enjoy a delicious, healthy and protein packed meal all vegan!
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
What has worked for me not only in Veegos but in other businesses I have started is basically doing lots of research always.
Never wait for someone to come tell you that you’re doing it right or wrong, research. Nowadays mentors are awesome, but hard to find like diamonds in a mine.
I have been blessed along the way and I HAVE met some very awesome people who have helped me a lot with advice but do not wait and expect for anyone to come to your rescue.
Contact Info:
- Email: veegosllc@gmail.com
- Website: www.veegoshouston.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/veegoshouston
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/veegoshouston
- Other: https://www.toasttab.com/veegoshouston/v3/
Image Credits
Becca Wright
