Article from “What Now”
Owner Chyna Love is opening the vegan eatery in Marietta Square Market
The Marietta Square Market opened in 2019 and after being shut down at the start of COVID-19, the market reopened in May with fewer tenants but more on the way. One of those incoming tenants is B.A.D. Gyal Vegan.
“Our venture into the market will be very exciting,” Owner Chyna Love told What Now Atlanta.
Though B.A.D. had to close a New York City location due to COVID-19, Love couldn’t be more excited to pivot from the Big Apple to Atlanta.
“Atlanta has become a mecca for Black-owned businesses,” she explained. “It’s just a very supportive community.”
To be located in an 18,500 square-foot food hall with space for 16 restaurants and two retail shops, the vegan Jamaican restaurant will join Bullgogi and Cousins Maine Lobster, among others in Marietta Square.
“It’s 15 to 20 minutes to the city and I just fell in love with the area when I visited. This is where we landed,” Love said.
She hoped to open in the next eight weeks.
“It was a little boutique that we are building from scratch,” she explained.
Love estimated the work would cost over $100,000 with the design and everything else.
She said they are still getting cleared on the permits.
B.A.D. Gyal Vegan offers 100 percent plant-based meals and has additional popup locations in the city such as one at Wadada Market & Juice Bar on Saturdays.
“What makes us unique is that we are the first authentic Jamaican plant-based restaurant in the country,” Love explained.
Its signature dish is the Voxtail plant-based oxtail, trademarked, as B.A.D. Gyal strives to offer every Jamaican dish available in a plant-based version.
