Meet Parrishon Hardgraves and Kandy Burnett, Wichita’s Vegan Crew
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The new generation
Black foodies helped build Wichita’s food scene. These entrepreneurs are leading the city into its dining future.
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Over the past several years, veganism has taken hold in Wichita, and vegan cooks have gone into business for themselves.
Among the rising stars are two lifelong friends who both have their own vegan food businesses and both are on the verge of taking the next steps to grow them.
Parrishon Hardgraves and Kandy Burnett grew up together. Their parents were friends and both attended Heights High School.
In 2012, Hardgraves decided she wanted to change her lifestyle and became interested in veganism. A longtime cook and kitchen adventurer, she started experimenting with plant-based versions of her favorite foods, from nachos to tacos to po’ boy sandwiches.
Though Hardgraves also runs a childcare business from her home, in 2020, she started to think about opening a food business. She found a commercial kitchen space for rent in the old Metro-Boulevard High School building on South George Washington, where she has been perfecting her recipes. In March, she’ll officially launch a virtual kitchen that will allow fans to order her vegan dishes for pickup or delivery through third-party vendors like DoorDash.
She already owns a food truck and plans to launch it this summer under the name Sol Food.
Since changing her diet, Hardgraves said, she’s felt better and had more energy and mental clarity, and she wants to share that experience with others in the community. But her goal is to emulate the chef she most admires: Pinky Cole, who owns the successful Slutty Vegan restaurant chain in Atlanta and who found success by making vegan food that also appealed to meat eaters.
“I want to raise curiosity,” Hardgraves said. “I want to open up a dialogue about eating differently. Yeah, you can always have the standard American diet, but let’s try something else. Let’s think about a different way of eating.”
When Hardgraves launches her truck this summer, Burnett will help her run it and will also serve her cold-press juice along with Hardgraves’ food. Burnett, who’s had formal culinary training, also prefers the vegan lifestyle and has big plans for her juice business, Juice 101. (Burnett also is a YouTuber who interviews and highlights Black business owners in Wichita on her channel Kandy B. Poppin.)
Both Hardgraves and Burnett have become in-demand on the vegan scene of late and have been invited to serve food at vegan pop-up events and to lead vegan cooking classes. Both will be leading sessions during a four-part interactive cooking series being put on in March at the Christian Faith Center at 1130 S. Broadway. Burnett’s session is on March 10, when she’ll demonstrate making quinoa-stuffed bell peppers, and Hardgraves’ session on March 24 will focus on breakfast: vegan French toast, sauteed spinach and baked red skin rosemary potatoes. Classes are $35 each or $130 for all four.
Those who want to try the food from Sol Food and the juice from Juice 101 should follow both businesses’ Facebook pages. They’ll be selling food to go Thursdays through Saturdays but will update social media on specifics at the start of March.
This story was originally published February 27, 2022 at 6:11 AM.
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