By Chloe Plots Global Vegan Domination With $31 Million Investment

By Chloe is about to spread its Instagrammable vegan food all over the world. According to Moneyish, the rapidly expanding vegan fast-casual hit is opening 20 new locations in the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East. The company received $31 million in funding from various investment groups to make the global expansion plan happen.

Samantha Wasser, the creative director of hospitality titan ESquared, co-founded By Chloe with celebrity vegan chef Chloe Coscarelli in 2015. After a lengthy lawsuit, Coscarelli split with ESquared in 2017, but ESquared maintained the company and restaurant name. In addition to various salads and bowls, the restaurant dishes out vegan takes on burgers, barbecue, meatballs, and mac and cheese in a fast-casual setting. The brand also makes vegan sweets and rolled out brunch at all of its current locations, adding breakfast at some NYC shops. There are even vegan dog treats.

The first location is in West Village, and the place quickly flooded Instagram feeds with its brightly colored foods and space when it opened in 2015. (According to Moneyish, Wasser designs her restaurants with online influencers in mind.) It’s like a vegan Shake Shack in its fast-casual service model, but it also has a touch of Black Tap, another rapidly expanding NYC chain that makes food creations specifically to go viral.

Now, there are 10 By Chloe locations sprinkled throughout NYC, Boston, LA, Providence, and London. It made its international debut in London last February, and more locations are plotted for London, Dubai, and Canada thanks to the hefty investment sum the company just received. The two-year expansion plan will add 20 new locations, including in Boston on Boylston Street and in London’s Tower Bridge neighborhood. One NYC outpost will be in South Street Seaport, and NYC may get a dose of other locations, too.

ESquared was founded by Wasser’s father and is behind the full-service BLT restaurants — where, like with By Chloe, a business divorce led to the departure of founding chef Laurent Tourondel — but the hospitality megagroup has recently gone all-in on fast-casual ventures. Wasser and ESquared have also opened another fast-casual concept with a similarly design-focused space, pasta restaurant The Sosta, and will open another one with a Mediterranean menu called Dez in June.

• EXCLUSIVE: By CHLOE, the vegan Shake Shack, receives $31 million investment to expand globally [Moneyish]