Nation's First 100% Plant-Based Convenience Store Opens in California
SAN BRUNO, Calif. — A new convenience store in the San Francisco Bay area is bringing the plant-based concept to the industry.
Hangry Planet is the channel's first 100-percent plant-based, cruelty-free convenience store. The retail outlet offers carefully curated snacks, meals, certified organic desserts and more that are sourced and vetted to assure that every product in the store is sustainable, animal product-free, and cruelty-free.
Hangry Planet is located at the Tanforan Shell at 1199 El Camino Real in San Bruno.
According to the retailer, this offers a unique experience for mindful shoppers who can now market with no "fine-print" ingredients or farming reading required, and a clear conscience.
Entrepreneur Bobak Bakhtiari, who created Hangry Planet, curated and designed every aspect of the store from its products to the customer experience. Bakhtiari is also an actor and philanthropist.
"Coming across an undercover investigation into organic dairy farms by Animal Recovery Mission and then reviewing the prolific global work of Animal Equality was like being zapped by a truth taser that left me sporadically sobbing for weeks," Bakhtiari said. "What I learned of the systematic and fundamentally abusive practices on factory farms, alongside severe environmental consequences, inspired me to transition Hangry Planet to be North America's first fully plant-based convenience store. It's time for retail to robustly advocate for sustainability, animal welfare and healthy products that aren't derived from abusing animals."
Ten percent of every sale made goes to several different charities supporting both animal and human rights, schools, orphanages and impoverished communities globally via Moms Against Poverty.
"For 15 years, Animal Equality has exposed the cruelty that happens within the global animal farming industry, using investigations to educate the public on the horrors that take place behind closed doors," said Sharon Núñez, president and co-founder of Animal Equality. "We are humbled to know our message is having a fundamental impact within retail, inspiring Hangry Planet to trailblaze a new paradigm for plant-based convenience stores. Together, we will end the needless suffering of animals used in our food system."
The store's offerings include a Laird's Superfood machine featuring vegan hot cocoa and golden milk; a range of certified organic vegan pastries from Santa Cruz-based Black China Bakery & Kerri Kreations, including Oakland's popular Donut Farm; grab-and-go meals such as the Hangry Bliss Breakfast sando (featuring Beyond Meat, JUST Egg and Follow Your Heart Cheese on a Gluten free bagel); hand pies like the Beyond Meat based mushroom-sausage scramble; Daiya burritos and Dr. Praeger's veggies burgers; vegan empanadas; Oatly's soft serve; Annie Chun's noodle bowls; a range of vegan jerky, and healthy plant-based snacks that champion their Feel Beautiful Not Junkie tagline.
Hangry Planet also stocks candy bars from Go Max Go Foods, Plant Based Bars, 2Fer, Buccaneer, Cleo Cup, Jokerz, Mahalo, Major, Snap!, Thumbs up and Twilight, as well as prebiotic sodas and a variety of plant-based chips from every major brand.