“For every million meals we serve, we save 50,000 farm animals,” says restaurateur Ravi DeRossi, whose eight restaurants in New York and Los Angeles have already reached far beyond that million-meal milestone. “This is just a drop, but we intend to grow exponentially.”
To get there, DeRossi and his team have tapped into the future of fundraising: crowdsourcing. But instead of asking their community to simply make a donation to support their vision, this updated model creates a new space for their clientele to become part of the Overthrow Hospitality family.
For about the same price as dinner and drinks at one of his award-winning restaurants, DeRossi’s customers and supporters are invited to purchase equity shares in his company, becoming part-owners. DeRossi sees this innovative approach as a calculated risk that could pay off big time for his customers, the planet, and animals.
The stunning cuisine at Avant Garden, Ravi DeRossi’s first fully vegan restaurant
“Me, I’m an animal-rights guy, but climate change is a close second,” he says. “It’s daunting to think ‘I’m just one person on a planet of 8 billion people. What in the world can I do that is going to make any sort of difference?’ My answer is that you join a community and a company that’s making a real impact.”
Industry forecasters predict an uptick in the vegan food sector over the next five years, with a projected value of $162 billion by 2030, a 450-percent increase from 2020. This shift in consumer spending sets the stage for plant-forward restaurants to flourish, and DeRossi and his team say the new investment opportunity can help make that happen.
Riffing off of the popular Soda Club concept that DeRossi established on New York’s Lower East Side, the first phase in the new project includes a series of pizza-pasta-vino eateries serving “really great Italian food” in college towns across the United States.
“To be as impactful as possible, we need to get into as many cities outside of New York as possible,” says DeRossi, citing Boulder, CO, where he grew up, as one of the first locations, with cities like Austin, Asheville, and Nashville on the phase-two list. Once funding goals are met, the expansion will continue beyond restaurants and into other exciting areas, including a baked goods concept and retail marketplace.
DeRossi didn’t start life as a vegan. The celebrated restaurateur began flirting with plant-based food when he was 12 but didn’t fully commit to the lifestyle until decades later. When DeRossi launched his 15 drinking and dining spots throughout the Big Apple, he had been eating plant-based for decades. His popular restaurants drew hip crowds and turned a pretty profit, but they all served meat and dairy.
The luxe interior of upscale vegan soul-food restaurant, Cadence
By this point, DeRossi was ready for change. He had grown weary of the toxic culture rampant in the restaurant industry and wanted to better align with values centered on inclusivity, compassion, and respect for the environment—even if it meant risking failure. “I thought, ‘I’m going to go out of business, and go bankrupt, and I’m going to lose everything,’” DeRossi told VegNews. “But I just didn’t care, because I couldn’t be involved in the cruelty and suffering of animals anymore.”
NYC success story
In 2015, DeRossi launched his first fully vegan location, Avant Garden, in New York’s East Village, and began offering plant-based menu items across his existing restaurants and bars. Instead of losing customers, the opposite happened. “We actually got busier,” says DeRossi.
Not long after Avant Garden’s launch, the floodgates opened to a sea of praise from the culinary establishment, smitten customers, and the mainstream press. Eater called it “Great, flesh-free food,” and Time Out asserted that “There are indulgences to be had on the plate.” As momentum picked up, new restaurant concepts sprang from DeRossi’s creative culinary well.
The fried oyster mushroom waffles at Cadence
Then, the pandemic hit, and everything came screeching to a halt. As DeRossi, a self-described workaholic, sat at home with his beloved animal companions—a cat with cancer and a dog on kidney dialysis—the things that really mattered to him came into focus. He came up with the idea to serve plant-based meals to underprivileged kids who no longer received free lunches at school. The project proved so popular that he expanded it to adults, too, serving 100,000 meals in six months from a trio of his East Village restaurants.
“For me and my partners, Drew (Brady) and Sother (Teague), that really changed our attitude about what we wanted our company to be.
Brainstorming, they came up with a name, Overthrow Hospitality, and a tagline, “Eat. Drink. Start A Revolution.” And then they set about nailing down the values that would define their new-and-improved approach to business. “Compassion” was the first guiding principle, because, says DeRossi, “I started this company and turned it vegan because of my love for animals.” Then they nailed down seven more: community, creativity, inclusivity, charity, sustainability, excellence, and magic.
Overthrow Hospitality partners Sother Teague, Drew Brady, and Ravi DeRossi
“Whenever we have a decision to make, we look to our core values,” says DeRossi, adding that those principles provide a framework that gives the team clear direction for every next step. Cadence, an upscale vegan soul-food spot, opened in March 2021.The New York Times called the cuisine “Direct, uncluttered, generous, and focused on sharing pleasure.” Esquire named it one of the Best New Restaurants in 2021. Mexican spot Etérea opened a month later. And a month after that, Soda Club, an Italian-inspired homage to hand-made pasta, opened its doors. And in 2022, DeRossi earned his first James Beard nomination for Outstanding Restaurateur.
In 2024, Overthrow Hospitality scored another big win when three of its restaurants were included in the world-renowned gourmand’s bible, the Michelin Guide. But perhaps most surprising are the praises that continue to be sung by an unexpected demographic: meat eaters. A quick scan of Yelp and TripAdvisor reviews reveals a resounding chorus of “I’m not vegan, but this food makes me want to become one.”
DeRossi estimates that 85 percent of his customers eat meat—a testament to the power of great food, impeccable service, and stylish ambiance, the trifecta that underpins every Overthrow property.
Eat, drink, and unite
Since the crowdfunding launch, more than $600,000 has been raised. With every successful restaurant concept they’ve dreamed up, from Avant Garden and Soda Club to New York’s only mushroom-centric restaurant Third Kingdom, Overthrow Hospitality has illustrated that creativity—coupled with delicious food and a mission-centered ethos—is an alluring combination.
The maitake mushroom pasta at Third Kingdom
Between 2021 and 2023, the company’s revenue grew by nearly 60 percent, showing proof of concept and infrastructure that would-be investors want to see. And the perks of buying in—from trees planted in investors’ names to private cooking and cocktail-making classes—are enticing in and of themselves.
The proposition resonates for DeRossi and his loyal customers: work together to co-create a restaurant industry aligned with shared values. And for DeRossi, that also means enjoying life and all its simple pleasures: eating, drinking, and sharing convivial moments with friends. But, as he says, the journey toward a healthier planet for people, animals, and the environment begins with an innovative vision and requires a collective effort to bring it to fruition. DeRossi hopes that the food-loving masses will rally their support and kick-start the revolution, “this is not something that we can achieve on our own.”
Thank you to Overthrow Hospitality for partnering with VegNews on this story. Find out more about Overthrow Hospitality’s crowdfunding campaign and how you can become a vegan restaurant owner.
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