a dream I've carried for years
A vegan grocery chain that never sells out.
I'll be straight with you: it's a long shot, and I've known that the whole time. But I've been sketching this one for years — and I still mean every line of it.
The idea
Picture a store where you never have to read the ingredients or research the manufacturer's ethics — because everything on the shelf already cleared that bar. That's the goal: ethical vegan food and household products for communities across the US, without compromising the values underneath.
It would start here in Seattle, WA, then work its way across the country — eyes on Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. Snacks and sweets to pantry staples and household goods, all under one roof, all already vetted.
Why crowdfunded — and why it matters
No investors. No corporate interests. No selling out.
Here's the part I won't budge on: it would be built without the usual money. Crowdfunded startup costs, on purpose — no investors, no corporate interests, no foreign control that could quietly compromise the ethics later. 100% ethically vegan and vegan-owned. Forever.
We've watched Field Roast, Follow Your Heart, and Daiya get swallowed by non-vegan corporations. That's the fate this one is built to never meet.
The numbers
What the first store costs.
| Property leaseOne-year lease, ~4,500 sq ft | $120,000 |
| Initial product costs~10,000 products at ~$3 wholesale | $30,000 |
| Refrigeration & perishablesUnits plus initial perishable stock | $10,000 |
| Fixtures & equipmentShelving, registers, carts | $20,000 |
| Employee wages5 full-time, one year, ~$20/hr | $100,000 |
| In-house clean areaTo make vegan alternatives on-site | $15,000 |
| Marketing & advertisingPromotion across channels | $10,000 |
| First-year total | $320,000 |
Coast to coast
The long-term map.
Hot-spots first, then every neighborhood we can reach — and honestly, worldwide if we get there. One city in every state, to start:
- Birmingham, AL
- Anchorage, AK
- Phoenix, AZ
- Little Rock, AR
- Los Angeles, CA
- Denver, CO
- Hartford, CT
- Wilmington, DE
- Miami, FL
- Atlanta, GA
- Honolulu, HI
- Boise, ID
- Chicago, IL
- Indianapolis, IN
- Des Moines, IA
- Wichita, KS
- Louisville, KY
- New Orleans, LA
- Portland, ME
- Baltimore, MD
- Boston, MA
- Detroit, MI
- Minneapolis, MN
- Jackson, MS
- Kansas City, MO
- Billings, MT
- Omaha, NE
- Las Vegas, NV
- Manchester, NH
- Newark, NJ
- Albuquerque, NM
- New York City, NY
- Charlotte, NC
- Fargo, ND
- Cleveland, OH
- Oklahoma City, OK
- Portland, OR
- Philadelphia, PA
- Providence, RI
- Charleston, SC
- Sioux Falls, SD
- Nashville, TN
- Houston, TX
- Salt Lake City, UT
- Burlington, VT
- Richmond, VA
- Seattle, WA
- Charleston, WV
- Milwaukee, WI
- Cheyenne, WY
Or — hire us
If you're reading this and want to put us to work.
Another way this gets funded: you hire us. I'll be honest about what that means, because it's mostly me plus a small circle I can pull in for long or short jobs.
IT — just about anything. Building and running infrastructure. The one thing we don't do is pentesting or in-house security: we're builders, not breakers — not hackers, not the people you hire to get in.
Photo & video. I shoot genuinely good stills and footage. I'll be upfront that I'm not deep in advanced Lightroom or Photoshop, so for heavy editing I'd bring in someone better.
If the budget's there, I can find, subcontract, and represent the right specialist — so you only ever deal with us. But I won't pretend to be a big agency when I'm not. I own this mission, and being realistic about what I can offer is the whole point.
AstralFocal
Photo & video · vegan & Black-ownedWhere the shots come from. 10% of sales pledged to the chain, plus product and location photography once we're established.
PrecisionPlanIT
IT & infrastructure · vegan & Black-ownedSeattle-based; build and run just about anything. 10% of sales pledged, and our managed IT once established.
HomeLabHelpDesk
IT & homelab supportHands-on help for homelabs and self-hosted setups — the same builders, scaled down to your rack.
Other ways to help
Rather just support it? Any donation — or the 2% referred-sales pledge for businesses — goes toward the goal, out in the open. Give, and your name goes on a public list of supporters, right next to a running balance of exactly what we've saved so far. No black box; you watch the total climb.
Shown publicly, always. This is the vision — not an open raise — so the meter starts when it starts.
Join us on this one.
There's no fundraiser yet — this is the vision, costed honestly and held onto for years. If you'd want in when it's real, or your business wants to take the pledge, reach out.
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