We recently connected with Rhona Nain and have shared our conversation below.
Rhona , appreciate you joining us today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?
There has always been a drive in me to one day have something that was mine. A legacy I could one day be able to pass down to generations after me. As a child I saw my mother and father work so hard to provide for my sister and I, and wanted to do the same for them one day. Before starting Dope Vegan, I held a great career, surrounded by amazing people but yet something felt like it was missing. I wanted more. The pandemic was an eye opener for me (as for many) because it really showed how life could just change in a blink of an eye. So after many days and nights of self reflecting I decided to take the leap of faith and Dope Vegan was born. My love for food in particular plant based really was influenced by sister. Diagnosed with lupus in her early twenties, I watched her slow and better yet reverse the damages of the disease by going raw vegan. She taught me the impact of super-nourshing the body from the inside out. I knew I wanted to make an impact in the world of food and I really believed that a creating flavorful plant based foods was my passion. However, the process of finding the right seasoning blends and sauces etc. was not easy. My team and I really took our time; tested with friends and family until finally we came up with the amazing line we have today. We decided to launch the last week of May 2022 and although filled with nerves we were excited to finally have the world try something we had poured everything into. The journey has not been easy but it has definitely taught me so much about myself and about pushing forward despite the noise.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My name is Rhona Nain, mom of a vibrant 4 year old girl, a wife and lover of all things health and wellness. I particularly love food because I believe it plays such an important part in our overall wellbeing. I am the owner of an amazing company called Dope Vegan. We are a plant based, hand crafted, gourmet burger restaurant located in the beautiful West Palm Beach, FL. I believe we have truly reimagined the traditional vegan burger, jam-packed with flavor (inspired by my Caribbean heritage). We pride ourselves on adapting traditional recipes and updating them using ingredients that are healthier, heartier and plant based. We really believe your don’t have to be vegan to eat vegan. That is why we’ve created a line of burgers and sandwiches for any walk of the plant based life. Vegans, vegetarians, semi-vegetarians, flexitarians, meat reducers, we’ve got your covered! Plant-based have never tasted so good! Overall, I am really most proud of the community we have created. We call our amazing customers the “Vegang”. They are amazing, supportive, inspiring… the list goes on and on. When we interact with our customers daily it’s truly a fun experience because we really believe in creating memorable moment. We know that there are so many other options out there and them choosing us just makes this all worth while. Its crazy to see something you’ve dreamt, cried, loss sleep, (all the above lol) come to life. From someone asking to order the “Dope Burger” to seeing a customer come back for the 3rd and 4th time. Its truly a gift. We are grateful for everyone who have supported us not just now but from the very beginning . We know that people remember how you made them feel and our goal everyday is to ensure our Vegang know they are absolutely appreciated.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Resilience to me is understanding that in the journey you will go through so many ranges of emotions but one thing you must do is believe in yourself. Believe and trust the process. Is it easy, no. There will be so times that you will want to give up but for me my faith in God and the knowing that greater is he that’s within me will gave me the strength to keep pushing throughout the process of being processed. I remember when we first found our location for our food trailer (outside of our pop up events) and was ready for business. Like anything new we had to go through the journey of customers not knowing who we were to getting the word out about our brand. We had days where I was very discouraged, however slowly our customers found us and we won their trust. We continue to grow daily and we are so grateful for all the love and support.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
I think what helped with building our reputation within our market was the fact that we’ve really created a line of plant based burgers and sandwiches that were flavorful and made with intentionality. But most of all, we really are in the business of people. We view our customers as family and they feel it every time they come in contact with our brand.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.eatdopevegan.com
- Instagram: @eatdopevegan
- Facebook: http://facebook.com/eatdopevegan