A bit of history: In late 2015 our founder Alan Pater bootstrapped el buda profano, a vegan sushi bar in Arequipa Peru. MasterChef Perú Jim Daniel Echevarría came on board to help develop the menu. The result, 6 months later, was lineups out the door.
In the following years the restaurant continued to build a solid reputation, both via word of mouth and online. People told us that there was nothing like it in their home town. "Who needs fish anymore" they said, "best sushi ever". The time had come to grow the business. Plans were developed to expand into a larger space, into more cities, into more countries.
In late 2019 we secured a larger, higher profile space in the centre of town. Planning and development of the new space was underway when, on March 15th 2020, the Peruvian President announced a complete lock down of the country. Only essential services could operate, everyone else had to quarantine at home.
Peru was hit hard by the pandemic, more so than other countries. But in the last week of June 2020 the quarantine ended and restaurants were allowed to accept take out orders. Several months later in house dining was permited with limited capacity, adequate ventilation and mask mandates. Finally in March 2021 we opened our new location; vaccine mandates following later in the year. 2022 presented its fair share of challenges, challenges common throughout the world. Supply chain problems, high inflation, and labour shortages all affected us as well, but we overcame these issues and took the business to new heights, doubling quarterly sales relative to pre-pandemic levels. Things were starting to look up!
https://www.instagram.com/elbudaprofano
Then in December 2022 everything fell apart.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/01/31/indigenous-leader-shot-dead-peru-protests-pit-rebel-campesinos
With their president in jail, the people of Peru took to the streets, with huge marches blocking cities, highways, and airports. For weeks, nothing and no-one could get in or out of town. The country basically shutdown again. The new hard-right government responded with violence, killing dozens.
This is where the story turns personal. The last 3 years had involved a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to take el buda profano to where it was, to where it could have so much potential. I (Alan) struggled to find a way for it to make sense to put, what? Another 3 years of the same into getting back to where we were a couple of months ago? I had hoped that Peru would progress, become a more just, fair society. But there is so much racism and corruption and willingness to resort to violence that it did not, and does not, appear that things in Peru will get out this situation for a long time. I made the painful decision to take a break. The restaurant was shut down, employees paid compensation for termination of contract, creditors informed, and papers filed for dissolution of the company. I returned to my native Canada to figure out next steps.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/01/25/peru-protests-political-crisis-castillo-boluarte-corruption
Next Steps: resurrect, replicate, escalate
There remains nothing like el buda profano anywhere in the world. Yes, there are other 100% vegan sushi restaurants scattered around the globe, but customers who have visited them tell us that they do not compare. For my part, having tried the vegan offerings at top rated "normal" sushi places, what we have to offer stands out. It's not just "not bad" for being vegan, it is in fact really, really good sushi. Orgasmic even, as one very satisfied customer exclaimed.
We need to bring that experience back to life.
Object: Build a vegan restaurant group with a dozen or two restaurants in select locations around the globe and an enterprise value of 100 million.
1st step: Reopen as "the profane buddha" in Canada.Since returning to Canada a few months ago I have been exploring the vegan dining scene here and checking out possible neighbourhoods for our return. Before making that decison I would love to build a solid team dedicated to being part of a positive change in the world.
Of course, one single restaurant will not be a 100 million dollar business (at least not for 2 centuries or so). To reach that level we aim to have a couple of dozen vegan restaurants running by the end of the decade. This implies a variety of dining experiences targeting different markets and price points. Apart from our flagship "the profane buddha", other concepts we have in mind include a vegan brunch space, another based on our experiences tasting the varied cuisines of Latin America, and one that builds on several plant-based traditions from around the globe. Additional revenue opportunities such as participation in festivals and greatly expanded delivery options will ensure that delicious, accessible vegan food is available to whoever wants it, where they want it, when they want it.
... to be continued ...