Vegan Drive-Thru to Take Over Shuttered Carl’s Jr. in California  

California-based vegan chain Plant Power Fast Food (PPFF) will open inside the space formerly occupied by Carl’s Jr. in Fountain Valley, CA in early 2020. The eatery—which will feature a drive-thru—will serve an array of vegan fast food, such as chicken nuggets, almond milk-based milkshakes, and classic burgers, including The Big Zac—a plant-based take on McDonald’s Big Mac named after PPFF co-founder Zachary Vouga. “Moving into the shells of former meat-based fast food restaurants is extremely beautiful to me,” Vouga told VegNews. “It’s almost poetic in that it serves as a tangible, shining example of the paradigm shift we’re seeing across the country as consumers ditch meat and dairy for good. We’re the future of fast food and we’re coming to take your restaurant.” The growing vegan chain opened its flagship location in 2016 in Ocean Beach, CA before expanding to a second location in 2017 in Encinitas, where it transformed a former Burger King into a vegan drive-thru. Since then, in addition to launching a food truck, the five-location chain has set its sights on aggressive expansion to four more Southern California locations in the next 16 months. In April, PPFF opened a location on campus at the San Diego State University, where it attracted 1,100 customers on opening day. “My two partners and I are ethical vegans to the bone, that’s why we got into this. We aren’t going to stop until we’ve effected institutional change,” Vouga said. “In fact, we’re just getting started.”