Wow … after all these years you’ve stuck by me and I’m happy, (sort of happy, sort of sad), to say your waiting is about to pay off.  

As many of you know I left my job in aviation and opened Marty’s V Burger, a vegan fast food joint in NYC in July of 2013.  Being in the restaurant business, I didn’t think it appropriate for me to criticize or critique any other chef’s offerings.  (Not that I consider myself a chef).  Hence the hiatus.

After the lockdown we lost 90% of our business.  We struggled to keep the doors open but with a 2-3 day workweek we lost about 50% of our lunch crowd and with the exodus of residents from Manhattan we lost many more of our loyal customers and our dinner rush became a dinner trickle.  Deliveries increased but the commissions we paid to the platforms ate into another 20-30% of the gross.  We went from having lines out the door to a dismal trickle.

Last year, in July, we were unable to secure a final round of financing and had to close Marty’s.  Covid finally claimed another victim.  

I am back to flying airplanes for a living.  I truly love what I do but never in a million years thought at my age, 68 now thank you very much, I’d be back to it.  Yet here I am.  Sometimes you just have to swing at the curveball life throws at you and sometimes you hit it out of the park.  I was lucky to find this job and am grateful.  

The good news is that my travels have once again started up and I can add my $.02 to the vegan foodsphere.  I contemplated starting the blog back up but recently a meal at Destin, Florida shoved me over that line.  So I should have a brand new post, hopefully first of many, in just a few days.  

So stay tuned.  And thanks for keeping the faith!

Marty