Food Truck Profile: Vurrito

It was only up until a couple years ago that Casey Pomes ate meat. It’s not how you expect a story of a new vegan food start-up to begin. At the age of 26, he found himself with a case of early-onset arthritis from the elevated levels of uric acid in his system. One of the causes of that can be meat-eating, and Casey underwent a major dietary change and went full vegan.

Today Casey, along with partner Chris Kerwick, are in the process of launching Vurrito, a food truck that serves vegan Mexican food. Chris is a former restaurant manager. Casey grew up on a farm and has a strong food service background. They met while working in IT sales. “My favorite food before I went vegan was Mexican food,” says Casey in a phone interview. “And that’s where the idea started.”

All their menu options are plant-based, whole food and organic. They work with local providers to source their food, like Wishing Stone Farm in Little Compton, one of the only organic farms in the state. Their menu items are one-of-a-kind, like a vegan burrito they call the vurrito (get it?) made with summer squash, zucchini and plenty of other vegetables. They make sweet potato tacos and mushroom quesadillas among other unique vegan twists on classic Mexican cuisine.

As of this writing they’ve set up shop at a few events. An event at Hope and Main in Warren had a crowd of mostly non-vegans enjoy their food,  with some even thinking that the portobello mushroom they were eating was steak, a fact that makes Casey beam with pride. “I want people to leave satisfied, ultimately satisfied, enjoying cruelty-free, plant-based food,” says Casey. “Our slogan is ‘Eat What’s Right’ and we want people to walk away happy.”

And people do. Right now, Vurrito is still raising funding. Traditional funding for food trucks being typically difficult, Casey and Chris have opted to start crowd-funding on indiegogo.com. Their current goal is to raise enough to buy equipment for a pop-up and work their way up from there. On July 17, they had a fundraiser at fellow vegan-friendly eatery Like No Udder. They prepared 85 meals beforehand and only advertised on social media for a few weeks before. There was a line out the door and they sold out their stock within 15 minutes.

Vurrito hopes to officially launch in August. They’ve been invited and have plans to go to more events to sell as well, like Worcester Veg Fest, Pawtucket‘s Dragonboat Festival and animal rights events/fundraisers. Casey wants to focus on street service as well. “Right now we want to build a brand and our following,” says Casey. “But our ultimate goal is to be the next Chipotle and have a series of fast-casual vegan restaurants.” Until then, tune in to their social media (facebook.com/vurritofoods) to find out where you can find them, and when you try their food, be prepared to enjoy tastes you didn’t know could come from vegetables.