LA’s first plant-based butcher sells out on its first day

Author: Molly Pickering

Read Time:   |  12th July 2022


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Maciel's Plant-Based Butcher & Deli opens its doors in LA becoming the first of its kind in the city serving up Mexican-inspired deli classics.

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The first vegan butcher shop opened in Highland Park, LA, over the weekend. Maciel’s Plant-Based Butcher & Deli will be serving up classic deli favourites with a Mexican twist.

Inspired by her heritage, Maciel Bañales Luna hopes her vegan butcher shop will become a neighbourhood staple. The vegan menu feature includes a selection of sandwiches, sides, juices, and homemade salsas. Additionally, the deli is selling a variety of nut-based artisan vegan cheese, including vegan Queso and Camembert.

The in-house-made sandwiches include ‘The Reuben’ – Slices of vegan pastrami, sauerkraut, provolone, thousand island dressing on rye bread, and ‘The Breakfast’ – Vegan egg, bacon or chorizo, cheddar, tomato, red onions, spicy sauce on a vegan brioche bun.

In a statement, Bañales Luna shared: “We focus on four things when making the meats: the taste — that is the most important thing, of course, the look, the texture, and the health.”

What’s more, co-owner and Maciel’s partner Joe Egender added: “The plant-based meat world has a little bit of a reputation of being highly processed.

“It doesn’t have to be that way.”

“To cater to the community as a whole”

LA’s first plant-based butcher hopes to appeal to the local residents as well as the vegans.

Egender shared: “It was a good feeling when meat-eaters were like, ‘I wouldn’t know the difference’.

“That was really gratifying because that’s been our main push this whole time, to cater to the community as a whole.”

The couple is focused on hiring locally and staff Spanish-speaking front-of-house staff to allow for better communication with the local residents.

“There’s a lot of Hispanic people coming to the shop and asking all these questions and I immediately can tell they’re Spanish speakers, so I started speaking Spanish to them,” explained Bañales Luna. “I really enjoy that.”

Furthermore, the couple plan to keep their prices at an affordable rate for the neighbourhood.

Planning a trip to Los Angeles? Check out our favourite vegan guide to LA

Feature image credit: Maciel’s Plant-Based Butcher & Deli

Written by

Molly Pickering

Molly is the Digital Executive and former podcast host at Anthem's Vegan Food & Living, she also works across other titles including Women's Running and Classic Pop to create affiliate content for the website. Starting out as a Digital Marketing Apprentice at Vegan Food & Living in 2021, within 14 months Molly was shortlisted for ‘Best Editorial Assistant’ at the BSME Talent Awards 2022 and won the BCS Special Recognition award for Digital Marketing Apprentice of the Year in 2022

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