The popularity of vegan food has grown and become more prevalent in mainstream food cultures, and for Matt de Gruyter, owner of Next Level Veggie Grill, he’s banking on it.
“It’s either sane or inspired,” said de Gruyter, who started his company Next Level Burger in 2014, a vegan fast food concept founded in Oregon, and then last year purchased the floundering brand Veggie Grill, his biggest competitor. “After a year-and-a-half of bringing Veggie Grill back from the brink, it just made sense to [combine the two] into Next Level Veggie Grill.”
The idea, he said, centers around what diners look for when eating out. If you have a burger place people think it’s just burgers. However, by evolving both menus and combining them, food categories open up. With the grill aspect of the menu, suddenly the business could offer wraps, veggie plates, vegan steak, and, in the owner’s words, “something covered in cheesy goodness.”
“What this badass, bold all-American vegan menu does is give it all,” added de Gruyter. “Now, it doesn’t have to just be burger night, it’s an every-night kind of place,”
Part of the reason de Gruyter wanted to combine the two concepts stems from Next Level’s next level as a growing operation. The long term plan, he said, is to take the company public. To do that, he added, the goal revolves around one brand. Already the group anticipates around 24 new restaurants opening by the end of the summer.
“Now we have 400-plus people we need to set up for success, that’s the difference between a [chain and a] boutique company, where we had two or three units with our first concept,” he said. “Our goal is to create this awesome, uniform experience that reflects our brand.”
Yes, the team will still serve 100-percent vegan fare, something de Gruyter and his co-founder and wife Cierra strongly believe in. For de Gruyter, he started a vegan diet at 27-years-old, coming off a diet where he consumed around 10 pounds of meat a week.
“Even if you are big fan of animal protein, you would have been like ‘whoa bro, slow down’,” he said, explaining that most nights he would down a 16-ounce piece of meat with a salad. “It was a fast track to a heart attack, the diet, stress, and genetics, it was not a good roll of the dice. Now, my heart health is phenomenal.”
But even because the de Gruyters and their kids practice a vegan diet, they never imagined Next Level Veggie Grill, or the first concept Next Level Burger, as a place only for those with the same eating style. The owners said about 60-percent of the guests are not vegan.
With the new place, items such as the Far East Thai Bowl with crispy sesame chik’n or crispy organic tofu, organic brown rice, griddled broccoli, house-pickled vegetables, fresh herbs, jalapeño peppers, Thai chili sauce, and house-made coconut curry sauce; a citrus-seared chik’n wrapped as a burrito and topped with melted cheese; and an array of vegan tacos such as the crispy battered fish(less) filets done Baja style with creamy house-made jalapeño slaw, cilantro, and pico de gallo, it’s easy to get tantalized into eating all the things, even if you’re not vegetarian.
The menu still showcases an array of burgers like the Steakhouse Burger with caramelized onions, house-made horseradish aioli, lettuce, and blue cheese crumbles. And shakes have a whole separate section including strawberry, cookies and cream, chocolate, and peanut butter cup.
“You have to show people you can eat more sustainability and healthily, while not giving up the enjoyment factor,” said de Gruyter. “I have had conversations about this topic thousands of times, and I have never had anyone say, ‘I think factory farming is the way to go.’ I’m excited about where we are going to be as a species in 10 to 20 years, I have no doubt we will get to the point where we align with what is best for the planet. The world doesn’t have to be vegan, but we have to make better choices.”
Try change for yourself, both with the fantastic vegan fare Next Level Veggie Grill churns out, and the new blending of fast food combined with casual plant-based food. Already the Next Level Burger in Denver has switched to the new model, and the others will follow as the team opens new spots around the country.
Visit Next Level Veggie Grill daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Bonus, the latest rendition is Kosher certified, more on that here. 1605 E. Evans Ave., Denver, nextlevelvg.com
