WILMINGTON — A vegan restaurant that has gained statewide acclaim is opening in Wilmington’s food hall, Cargo West, this weekend.
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Mike’s Vegan Grill will flip on the open sign at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 24, and will operate seven days a week until 9 p.m., serving lunch and dinner. It’s the third brick-and-mortar in the franchise, run by Mike Roach and his partner Haras Sajjad, who have other restaurants in Charlotte and Greensboro. Alex Micthell and Nathan Blackburn are Wilmington’s operating partners.
Mitchell has spent the last decade in the corporate world working for AT&T but in his younger years was part of the restaurant industry, doing both front- and back-of-house work. He and Roach were once roommates in Greensboro and Mitchell has been closely following the rise of Mike’s Vegan Grill regionally over the last decade.
“He’s seen it from the bottom-up,” Roach said Monday. “I’m honored to have him as an operating partner, a brother and part of the team.”
Roach began the vegan lifestyle almost a decade ago. While the outcome has been a healthier way of life, he first broached if for a girl — now his wife.
“She had her Instagram at the time and was very pretty and I didn’t know how to talk to her,” Roach said. “So she would post about the vegan lifestyle and I went into those DMs, not really thirsty, but saying, ‘Hey, I’m interested in the vegan diet; can you help me?’ And then one thing led to another and we’re here now, nine years later.”
Married with children, Roach said the inspiration from his family also sprouted into a thriving business. When he first became vegan, he used to eat a lot of raw food, home cooking and tofu but began craving the simplicity of a hot dog. He found LiteLife brand vegan dogs and started creating “off-the-wall flavors.”
He topped one with crushed pineapple and potato chips, faux pepper Jack and a special chipotle sauce, and another with black beans, diced onions, bacon bits, jalapenos and mustard. They became known as Colombiana and Lo Maximo — “one of my favorites,” Roach said — and the basis for his first operation, Mike’s Vegan Hot Dogs.
With $5,000 in his pocket and a $1,000 loan from his mom, Roach started selling them from a cart near UNC-Chapel Hill. They became so popular that within six months, he decided to maximize his output and upgraded to a food truck. Roach also added burgers, Philly cheesesteaks — “still our number-one seller” — Nashville hot “chicken, even a “shrimp” PoBoy. Daily, he would park the truck in different areas in the state, from Charlotte to Raleigh.
“It was like I was on tour everyday,” Roach said, explaining he’d be in his home town of Burlington on Monday, Greensboro Tuesday and worked his way down I-85 and back up again. “There were just lines and lines and lines of people that would come out — it was something incredible.”
It wasn’t long before Roach purchased additional trucks to become stationary in various cities, including in the Piedmont, Triad and Triangle, to fulfill his growing clientele. It took roughly four years to garner a large following, 60,000 deep on Instagram, where he would push out his daily schedule.
In May 2022 Mike’s Vegan Grill became the first standalone restaurant; his partner, Sajjad’s family, owned the land for the Greensboro project. By 2024, the operators opened another Mike’s Vegan Grill in Charlotte’s university area.
Wilmington and Winston-Salem are next in line.
“I had talked to Mike about opening one in Wilmington in passing, though nothing too serious for a long time,” Mitchell said.
Once he learned about Cargo West, it seemed like a perfect spot for Mike’s fast, casual pace. Located in the Cargo District, on 15th Street between Castle and Queen streets, the outdoor food court consists of 12 8-foot-by-20-foot shipping containers, each housing different restaurants.
So far, Seoul Sushi, I Love Empanadas, Zeke’s Beans and Bowls, Sinful Cupcakes and Sunset Slush is open. Also coming this month are Astro Dogs, Taco Papi, Shepard’s BBQ, Copper Penny and Boom Foods.
Mike’s will be the only full vegan eatery in the court (only the second in Wilmington, behind Sealevel Vegan Diner). The menu today is 30 or so items, featuring burgers, quesadillas, tacos, chicken sammies, even a crunchwrap.
“I really love the barbecue sandwich,” Mitchell added, which is made from soy.
Though not vegan, Micthell represents a good portion of Mike’s Vegan Grill customers.
“What I like is, with eating a burger and fries, normally you’re weighed down and sluggish. With Mike’s, it’s the same great taste, but you don’t get that side effect,” he said.
Roach credits the restaurant’s popularity among all diners due to everything being made from scratch and “seasoned to perfection” — down to the homemade nacho “cheese,” created from potatoes, carrots, jalapeno juice and nutritional yeast.
“We care about the product and only want to work with people who put love and care back into it,” Roach said.
For Mitchell, working with friends is also exciting but so is the creativity that comes in the menu’s constant evolution: “There’s a vegan option for almost everything.”
The Wilmington location will have $10 burgers on Monday and run specials in addition to the menu; prices are $4 to $15.
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