Vegan restaurant PLNT Burger will open its first location in early September in Silver Spring.
Director of Strategic Marketing Jonah Goldman said Wednesday that he can’t announce the exact location yet.
Goldman is the son of Bethesda-based Honest Tea co-founder Seth Goldman.
“It’ll be a plant-based burger joint, the emphasis being more about delicious burger than on the plant-based part,” Jonah Goldman said.
He added that members of the PLNT Burger team can educate customers on the benefits of reducing meat in their diets in a way that celebrates life instead of attacking people’s choices.
Seth Goldman called his son’s restaurant a combination of Honest Tea and plant-based meat company Beyond Meat, of which he’s executive chair. He is not directly involved with the restaurant.
PLNT Burger will debut on Thursday with a pop-up event at a synagogue in Washington, D.C., a preview of what customers can expect when it opens in Silver Spring.
The plant-based outfit will have burgers, ice cream and snacks, all made from plants, at Ohev Sholom – The National Synagogue from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m.
“It’ll be a wonderful opportunity to plant ourselves in this area, and start generating some momentum and interest in what we’re growing,” Jonah Goldman said Wednesday.
The pop-up was born out of a relationship Goldman developed with a rabbi at the synagogue through its work providing kosher certification for restaurants in the Washington region. The restaurant’s plant-based concept fit well with the Jewish holiday of Tisha B’Av, a day of fasting, Goldman said. The holiday comes at the end of a nine-day period when some Jews don’t eat meat.
PLNT Burger wasn’t ready in time for the August holiday, but Goldman still wanted to do an event with the synagogue.
Customers can preregister for the event online or pay slightly higher prices at the door.
The potential for additional locations is a conversation for a future day, Goldman said, as the company looks to cement its initial location. There might be other
PLNT Burger establishments later, but the company is focusing on its first location for now, Goldman said.
“For now, we’re just excited to get our hands dirty and start working in the community,” Goldman said.
This story was updated at 10:50 a.m. Aug. 9 to clarify a reference to Jews not eating meat leading up to Tisha B’Av.
Charlie Wright can be reached at charlie.wright@moco360.media
