Hardcore Ethics, Tender Bizkits
Guerilla Bizkits’ vegan takeovers and collaborations highlight plant-based alternatives while sparking change.
Zach Halfhill and Alex Humbrecht of Guerilla Bizkits
As both hardcore punks and longtime vegans, Chef Alex Humbrecht and Creative Director Zach Halfhill of Guerilla Bizkits, a vegan biscuit bakery in East Nashville, Tennessee, are committed to “talking the talk and walking the walk” when it comes to managing their business with inclusivity and social justice in mind. “
You can’t fake your way into being punk. Same with veganism. They’re both confrontational and uncomfortable to people who do not subscribe to them, but discomfort is ultimately the root for change,” says Humbrecht. This ethos extends to their frequent plant-based takeovers and collaborations with omnivore chefs. Through these pop-ups, Humbrecht and Halfhill are able to broaden their audience, promote community, and, above all else, create accessible opportunities to educate and disrupt false preconceptions about veganism. StarChefs’ Katie Walsh chatted with the duo on their purposeful approach to collaboration and how their punk-vegan ethos folds into every aspect of their operation.
KATIE WALSH: How do you approach your collaborations with omnivore restaurants when you do vegan takeovers?
ZACH HALFHILL: Doing an all-vegan collaboration or takeover not only gets their customers’ eyes on us and veganism as a whole, but it also shows vegan customers who might be going to these restaurants for the first time that they have vegan stuff on their menu all the time. We recently did a brunch pop-up with a Korean restaurant here in town called Babo. They were able to do full service at night as well, so they basically got to sneak in a whole extra day of service for additional revenue in their week. We tried to minimize cost and waste, but still keep things fun and fresh. Being able to use our existing things and their existing things and come up with a whole new menu is super creative, but also cost-effective.
ALEX HUMBRECHT: I feel like at every non-vegan restaurant we’ve worked with, the chefs get really excited for the challenge to go all plant-based. So we get really hyper, really excited, spin off a bunch of crazy ideas, and then narrow it down from there.
KW: Is there something you avoid, or conversely, something you strive for with these pop-ups?
ZH: My personal main goal is just to get vegan food in front of as many people as possible. With the help of a co-sign from a restaurant somebody might already love, people think, “Oh, they trust this company and want to work with them. Maybe I can try this.”
AH: I think, being the one who typically develops everything with the other chef, I look at it as a huge learning opportunity. We worked with Chef Arnold Myint, who’s just fantastic, and sharing a kitchen with him was so great. It’s amazing what you pick up in such a short-turnaround collab, and I love bringing stuff back to our kitchen.
The Blackout: Cherry-Pickled Jalapeño Vegan Biscuit, Beet Powder, Vegan Butter
Vegan Buttermilk Biscuit with Strawberry Jam
KW: What does activism look like in your business model, both in the collaborations you do and in your brick-and-mortar space?
ZH: If you look at veganism as a concept or philosophy, at its simplest terms you may think it’s just not consuming anything from an animal. But many of us would say it’s about abolishing hierarchy and total liberation. It’s much more intersectional and less black-and-white than just saying, “I don’t eat animals.” For us, when we give out things like harm reduction kits, it’s because we don’t have harm reduction accessible where we live. That's just another facet of veganism.
KW: How do you pick restaurant collaborators? Are you looking for people committed to local sourcing or sustainability?
AH: Definitely. Luckily, the Nashville scene is full of small, locally owned restaurants with similar mentalities, minus the vegan aspect. We look for restaurants that are farm-to-table, sourcing locally, and that try not to work with bad companies.
ZH: We’re never hesitant to back out, though. We just backed out of a pretty big wholesale customer because it became public that they were union-busting and treating employees terribly. We immediately and publicly pulled our product from their store. We stand on that. If something comes up, we’re not going to turn a blind eye.
KW: If another vegan restaurant wanted to approach pop-ups in the same way, is there any advice you’d give them?
AH: Honestly, the best advice I was given is something we’ve really latched onto since we started: Keep things simple and focus on your one main product. We obviously really focus on our biscuits. Every once in a while we branch outside of that, but that’s kind of what we use the collabs for.
ZH: That’s great in terms of business costs, but it’s also really good for maintaining quality. Perfecting something is not easy, and it takes a lot of time. Having spent the last six years really focusing on one thing is what has kept us around.
