Making the Change
What would you do if you had to completely change how you eat? Local Milwaukee business owner Buddahfly Prescott had to make this change when her body began rejecting meat in 2020. This meant saying goodbye to some of her favorite foods altogether. She was limited in what she could eat regarding her favorite cuisine, soul food. She started to taste-test vegan online recipes but the taste never compared to what Prescott was looking for in a meal. She then began experimenting with her own flavors and substitutions to recreate the soul food recipes she was used to.
“I grew up eating soul food so I was kinda like panicking like what am I going to do and I had no idea how to sustain this new lifestyle that my body is asking me to take,” said Prescott. “I don’t want to live a lifestyle where eating would… become boring to me.”
Prescott substituted meat for plant proteins and mushrooms while adding traditional techniques and flavors to her favorite meals. Throughout the entire process, Prescott recruited her children to be taste testers as she began her vegan journey and reinvented recipes.
She eventually started selling homemade plates to community members over social media and then expanded into offering catering services for her business Buddah Luv.
In addition to being a catering service, Buddah Luv is available to order online through its website and is well known in the community for items such as the Buddah burger, The biken sandwich, Breakfast Bagel Sandwich, and “fish” and chips.
Making the Pitch
Prescott has entered and won several pitch competitions to raise money for a food truck. She took home first place winning $5,000 on Project Pitch It, a local Shark Tank-style pitch television show. She also recently pitched at the 2024 Third Annual STEAM & Dream in Milwaukee winning $500 and mentorship from entrepreneurs Pinky Cole and Derrick Hayes.
“Pinky Cole…is someone that I idolize. She has a multimillion-dollar vegan company, so to be in front of her and pitch to her was a real-life dream [come] true,” said Prescott. “Pitching in front of someone that you look up to is really intense.”
Cole is the owner of Slutty Vegan, a vegan restaurant valued at over 100 million dollars.
Putting the Kitchen on Wheels
As the reality of owning a food truck comes closer for Prescott, she has begun to flesh out the plans of how to elevate customers’ experience in a new format.
“I would definitely want to be on the Northside because the Northside is definitely lacking good vegan options,” said Prescott. “We have stuff in the suburbs and the outskirts, but I would love to have something on the Northside.”
The truck is planned to feature a rotating menu to satisfy the diverse tastebuds of Wisconsin. Prescott said her dishes were created to deliver authentic flavor and a wide array of options to satisfy anyone.
“A food truck or even like a shared kitchen space, there’s a ton of different ways I could go, and I’m not being hasty with my decisions,” said Prescott.