Black-owned Lettuce Feast—a Los Angeles-based food truck famous for its vegan fried chicken sandwiches, strips, and desserts—recently launched a GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign after its truck caught on fire. The campaign, launched by founders Eva Cannon and Willie Perrymon, has fundraised nearly $40,000 of its $150,000 goal thus far. “The amount of support we have gotten from the community is mind blowing,” Cannon and Perrymon told VegNews. “We are so grateful to everyone who has donated, shared the link, or just sent positivity in this difficult time. Words cannot even begin to explain how much we appreciate everyone.”
Although Lettuce Feast is beloved by local Angelenos, the campaign has gained support from donors from far and wide. “I can’t wait to check you guys out the next time I’m in [California]. From Florida, with love,” Donor Deserae Ortiz wrote. Similarly, donor and restaurant owner Lindy Vega wrote: “We know how hard it is to make things work, even without catastrophic circumstances. We’re so sorry this happened, and we’re sending you love and support from Mexico.”
With the funds raised, Cannon and Perrymon hope to purchase a new truck or apply the money toward a brick-and-mortar location. “Our hope is for Lettuce Feast to become a staple in the vegan community and to one day open up a brick-and-mortar location to bring even more great recipes that we can’t really execute on the trucks,” the duo said.
Lizzo-approved vegan food truck
Known for her vegan recipe blog Wild Sunflower Chef, Cannon co-authored the Lettuce Feast cookbook with Perrymon as a way to help people eat more plant-based foods without having to sacrifice flavor and the dishes they love. “We wanted to see if people would like to try the items we had in the cookbook, so we did our very first food truck pop-up. Although it was [hectic], it gave us a spark that we might be onto something,” said Cannon and Perrymon. “It wasn’t until we did the Seed Food and Wine event, where we were the only vendor to sell out, that we decided to take our vegan fried chicken to the streets of Los Angeles. Our mission with Lettuce Feast is to keep creating delicious plant-based food that anyone, vegan or otherwise, can love and share with family and friends.” Today, Lettuce Feast is beloved locally and internationally, and is a favorite of vegan Grammy-winning musician Lizzo.
While Lettuce Feast works to determine the cause of the fire, Cannon and Perrymon’s main priority is return to normal operations so their employees can continue caring for their families. “We know the importance of paying a living wage. For most people who work for us, this is their only job,” the owners shared.
Lettuce Feast’s second food truck is currently scheduled to continue normal operations.
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