One of the reasons Zaxbys cofounder Tony Townley exited the brand nearly five years ago was because he required open heart surgery due to a condition he was born with.
From that experience, he was compelled to have better eating habits. This also aligned with where Townley felt the industry was headed: Gen Z and millennials demanding sustainably sourced products and a menu that supports their health journey.
So when the industry veteran had the opportunity to acquire Maepole—a Georgia-based better-for-you fast casual that’s mostly vegan—he jumped on the opportunity.
“I took the liberty to go and dine at Maepole for my first time back in the fall, and I recall going in there and just looking at and observing the back of house, how elegant it was and how simple, and it wasn’t very labor intensive,” Townley says. “That attracted me. But the real thing that attracted me was with the food being fresh and seasonal vegetables and such. When I ate lunch that day, I went back to my office following lunch, and about two hours later I noticed I’m not lethargic. I’m not sleepy. I have all this energy. And anyway, I got to thinking, this has got to be the food of the future because it’s healthy, it’s low carbs, it’s just really healthy overall.”
Maepole, with two locations in Athens and one in Atlanta, was founded in 2018 by fine dining chef Peter Dale. The restaurant prides itself on using flavorful vegetables and proteins and recognizable Southern comfort ingredients. The menu changes four times per year to keep up with the seasons. For instance, Maepole won’t serve raw tomatoes in January; that comes in June “when they’re most delicious,” Dale says.
Each store features two flat top griddles dedicated to meat and plant-based ingredients to ensure meal integrity for vegans and vegetarians.
“Fortunately that hasn’t come up as too much of an issue. I think that we’ve got it pretty clearly labeled,” Dale says. “In my fine-dining world, our vegetables often are brought cooked in chicken stock and butter, but at Maepole, the vegetables are all vegan. You don’t have to ask, ‘Is there butter in that?’ or ‘Are the collard greens vegetarian?'”
We keep everything very easy to understand. The meat is meat, the vegetables are vegetables. We do have mac and cheese, and that’s really one of the few dairy components. So we make it easy for guests to make the choices that they want.”
Customers can either order signature plates, like the Boxcar (sweet potatoes, mac & cheese, green beans and onions, pork, and sriracha vin) and the Outfielder (brown rice, rice, carrots, broccoli, chicken, and lemon herb) or they can walk down the line crafting their own dish by choosing a base, two sides, a protein if wanted, and sauces.
The inspiration for Maepole came from Dale’s white tablecloth concept, the National. From day one, the restaurant had a vegetable plate as a dinner entrée. The brand then added an afternoon dish focused primarily on seasonal vegetables, which grew to 75 percent of lunch sales. Dale wanted to give his guests the same cuisine, but in a more convenient format.
“The National, at lunch, it’s at least an hour—usually an hour and a half hour—proposition, white tablecloth, it’s not inexpensive in our region. So when we were not at work, I craved that food and felt like other people probably wanted that food as well, but in a more convenient format and also probably a more accessible price point,” Dale says. “So we were starting to see concepts where there was healthier food in the Northeast, on the West Coast, but that wasn’t happening in the Southeast yet.”
Dale describes the interior of the restaurants as modern, fresh, bright, and airy, with photography of the dishes to help educate new guests and an open kitchen where people can see employees chop vegetables as they order food.
Not only is the back of house simple, but so is the sub-30 percent food costs, “which is really, really good in this industry, especially in light of the inflationary period we came through in the last couple of years,” Townley says.
Expansion is on the way as well. The chain has an LOI out on a site in Cumming, Georgia, and it’s also looking at a subsequent location. Maepole hopes to have both of these restaurants open by Q1 2026. If those go well, a franchising program may start next year—something Townley has much experience with given his years with Zaxbys.
“I think somebody that could possibly come from the QSR industry would be a good qualifier,” says Townley, describing the ideal franchisee. “The other side of it is somebody that wants to work in the business. We think those individuals will be able to carry the ball further and obviously be able to have subsequent locations in their own enterprise. And of course, they have to have some money to be able to do this, no different than they would have to in other brands or franchise opportunities. But we’re looking forward to that. I think with my experience and some others Zaxbys guys that came on board with us as well, I think we’ll be able to possibly lure in a lot of people that have a lot of interest in this brand.”
To Dale, the plant-based movement still has momentum. It may not be that customers are completely vegan, but he does believe people in general are more interested in what they’re eating and where it comes from. Maepole is able to “meet lots of different people where they are,” Dale says, whether that’s college students, young families with kids, professionals, or retirees.
As Townley says, it’s the future.
“We’re excited to be involved with Peter and his team, and we’re looking for a lot of good things coming,” Townley says.
