Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Rios.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I started Vegan Nom in Austin in 2012 with what seemed as a pretty simple idea: make vegan food that was exciting, approachable, and something everyone would want to eat, not just vegans. What began as a small food trailer grew organically through a lot of hard work, trial and error, and support from the Austin community.
Over the years, Vegan Nom has grown into one of Austin’s longest-running vegan food concepts, known for our tacos, breakfast, queso, and creative takes on Tex-Mex. In 2020, I expanded with Nom Burgers, focusing on vegan smashburgers, fried “chicken” sandwiches, wings, shakes, and comfort food.
Today, both Vegan Nom and Nom Burgers operate together at the Vegan Nom Food Park in East Austin. I’ve been in this business for more than a decade, and I’m still very hands-on from developing recipes and training the team to marketing, operations, and figuring out what comes next.
The biggest thing I’ve learned is that building a business isn’t a straight line. There have been great years and difficult ones, but I’ve continued to adapt and keep going. I’m proud and grateful that something I started in 2012 is still here, still evolving, and still serving the Austin community today.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. Running independent restaurants is challenging in the best of times, and over the past 14 years I’ve experienced just about every high and low that comes with owning a small business.
I started Vegan Nom in 2012 with very little, so in the beginning the challenge was simply getting people to believe that vegan tacos could be exciting, satisfying and accessible. As we grew, the challenges changed such as managing employees, rising food and labor costs, equipment breaking, maintaining consistency, and learning how to grow without losing what made us special.
Then came COVID. Like so many restaurants, we had to adapt quickly just to survive. We continued evolving, and Nom Burgers became another way for us to introduce people to vegan food through familiar comfort foods like burgers, wings and shakes.
One of the biggest lessons has been learning that entrepreneurship is really about resilience. There have been times when business was booming and times when I questioned whether we could keep going. I’ve made mistakes, learned from them, changed direction when necessary and kept showing up.
Fourteen years later, we’re still independently owned and operating in East Austin. I’m incredibly proud of that. The struggles have shaped both the businesses and me, and they’ve taught me that success isn’t about having a smooth road, it’s about continuing to move forward when the road gets difficult.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m the founder and owner of Vegan Nom and Nom Burgers in Austin, Texas. I started Vegan Nom in 2012 because I saw an opportunity to make vegan food more approachable, fun, and rooted in the flavors I actually wanted to eat. I didn’t want vegan food to feel like a substitute or something you had to compromise for. I wanted people to crave it whether they were vegan or not.
That philosophy still drives what I do today. Vegan Nom is known for creative vegan Tex-Mex, from tacos and breakfast to our Crunchwraps and queso. I later created Nom Burgers to take that same approach to classic American comfort food, smashburgers, fried tofu sandwiches, wings, shakes, and other familiar foods made completely plant-based.
I’m a person who plays all the instruments. What I specialize in is building concepts and experiences. I’m very hands-on with everything from menu development and branding to marketing, operations, customer experience, and creating the overall personality of the businesses. I’m constantly asking, “How can we make this better, more interesting, and more memorable?”
What I’m most proud of is longevity. The restaurant industry is incredibly difficult, and vegan restaurants have their own unique challenges. Vegan Nom has been part of Austin since 2012, and we’ve continued to evolve while remaining independent and true to what we believe in.
What sets us apart is that I’ve never wanted to make “good vegan food.” I want to make great food that happens to be vegan. If someone who normally eats meat comes in, loves a taco or burger, and leaves thinking differently about plant-based food, that’s a win for me.
More than anything, I’m proud that after all these years I’m still excited about creating, still willing to reinvent things, and still trying to push vegan food forward.
How do you think about luck?
I think luck has definitely played a role in my life and business, but I’ve learned that what you do with it matters more.
I was fortunate to start Vegan Nom in Austin in 2012 at a time when the city was growing and people were becoming more interested in plant-based food. I met great people along the way, found a community that supported what I was doing, and had opportunities I never could have planned for. I’m grateful for all of that.
I’ve also had my share of bad luck—business setbacks, financial challenges, relationships that didn’t work out, divorce, and personal situations that completely changed the direction I thought my life was going. There have been moments where everything seemed to happen at once.
But some of the things I once considered bad luck ended up forcing me to grow the most. They taught me resilience, humility, and how to start over without giving up on myself.
Now that I’m older, I look at luck differently. I’m incredibly lucky to be a father, to have built businesses that have survived for 14 years, and to still have the opportunity to create the next chapter of my life. I can’t control everything that happens to me, but I can control how I respond to it.
Maybe luck opens or closes a few doors, but I believe showing up, taking chances, staying curious, and continuing to move forward is what ultimately determines where you end up.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thevegannom.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thevegannom
- Other: https://www.nomburgers.com
