Vegans are loving it: Anti-McDonald’s plants a stake in Hillcrest and Pacific Beach
It is a company that refers to itself as sarcastic disruptors Yet it earnestly adheres to a creed of compassion locality involvement and veganism Add to the business model a name derived from Grateful Dead song Cosmic Charlie and you end up with the rapidly growing McDonald s-like chain called Mr Charlie s In the coming month or two the eatery will open at the prime Hillcrest address of Fifth Ave at the corner of University Avenue where Chocolat last resided It will also launch in Pacific Beach at Garnet Ave which was previously occupied by Brazilian Bowls Both locations will offer the same menu along with a design scheme of red and yellow It is a color combo that Mr Charlie s co-founder Taylor McKinnon commented has been scientifically shown to evoke nostalgia and appetite Think McDonald s Burger King Carl s Jr and In-N-Out Burger Turning a life around McKinnon originally from England was homeless and battling addiction years ago Through moral assistance and financial help he received from the Dream Center in Los Angeles he was able to turn his life around and tap into his inventive humanitarian self He subsequently fell in love with a woman whom he later married They now have two young sons He also teamed up with business partner and photographer Aaron Haxton to start a marketing agency years ago in Los Angeles called Clyde Seventh But the magic moment in McKinnon s career hit when he and Haxton debuted Mr Charlie s in Hollywood in It generated immediate fanfare and even a celebrity endorsement from Mike Tyson Expanding the plant-based brand Since then franchised locations of Mr Charlie s have emerged in Los Angeles San Francisco and Sydney Australia In the coming year others are due to open throughout Arizona We wished something that s going to make you feel like a kid with a little bit of a circus look in classic American fun colors commented McKinnon who attended catering school and created menus while working in restaurants throughout the UK before moving to California The food choices at Mr Charlie s appear remarkably similar to the top sellers at McDonald s with the exception that everything is plant-based Burger and chicken patties as well as the Not Chicken Nuggets are made with organic non-GMO soy And the produce used for garnishments is also organic You can taste the difference when there are no pesticides This is fast food re-imagined McKinnon noted The Mr Chuck burger Photo courtesy Aaron Haxton A double-patty burger called a Mr Chuck is something like a McDonald s Big Mac The patties are separated by a middle crust-less bun and complemented by shredded lettuce pickles diced onions yellow vegan cheese and Mr Chuck Sauce San Diegans will soon determine how well it compares to the special sauce at McDonald s Visually the Mr Royale With Cheese strikes an identical pose to the McDonald s Quarter Pounder with its thicker patty sliced onions mustard ketchup and sesame bun The menu also gives way to the familiarity of single burgers with or without vegan cheese plus the Double Not burger resembling a McDouble In the morning hours customers will even find that they carry vegan Mr Muffin breakfast sandwiches using classic English muffins dusted in cornmeal McKinnon points out that the French fries served at Mr Charlie s are fried in high-quality sunflower oil rich in omega- fatty acids They re served in none other than red cardboard jackets As for the name of the chain McKinnon noted that Mr Charlie is an ode to Cosmic Charlie the title of a song on the Grateful Dead s album Aoxomoxoa It s a song that gives off unconditional loving vibrations he mentioned adding that it fits into the company s non-discriminatory hiring process which is at this time underway in San Diego Mr Charlie s will never judge anybody based on their past struggles or where they come from he announced It takes all of us to make this work
