A vegan quick-service chain in Los Angeles that appears to parody branding elements of McDonald’s has won a celebrity investor heavyweight: Mike Tyson.
The former boxing champ, who is preparing to return to the ring for the first time since 2020, on Wednesday announced a strategic investment in Mr. Charlie’s Told Me So (the name is a Grateful Dead reference), a three-unit plant-based quick-service concept with a mission to create jobs for people who need second chances.
Terms were not disclosed. But the goal is to scale Mr. Charlie’s as a global franchise concept, leveraging the relationships and platforms that Tyson has built as a sports celebrity and businessman.
The investment comes from Carma HoldCo, which is the company behind Tyson’s various businesses, including cannabis brands Tyson 2.0, which offers Mike Bites gummy edibles shaped like an ear with a bite taken out of it, and Evol by Future.
But this is the company’s first restaurant investment, said Carma CEO Adam Wilks, a restaurant franchising veteran whose past experience includes work with Pinkberry, Cold Stone Creamery, Yogen Fruz and Buy N Bulk.
Wilks said Tyson—who is vegan—fell in love with both Mr. Charlie’s food and its mission, especially given the fighter is currently staging his own comeback story. (The 57-year-old is scheduled to fight Jake Paul at an event in November.)
Mr. Charlie’s was founded in 2022 by Taylor McKinnon and Aaron Haxton and was quickly dubbed by fans as “the vegan McDonald’s,” though there is no connection to the global giant.
Branding elements seemed to flirt dangerously close, though perhaps as parody, with boxed “Mr. Frowny” meals, nuggets and fries. Despite being entirely plant-based, Mr. Charlie’s menu evokes taste memories of McDonald’s Happy Meals.
It’s a simple menu, which has evolved somewhat in recent years. There’s a plant-based (Tindle) chicken sandwich called Mr. Sunday (perhaps a poke at Chick-fil-A), and the two-not-beef-patty option with cheese is called Mr. Chuck.
The first unit in Los Angeles has won high-profile fans, including reviewers like Lizzo (who said, “This better not be ostrich knees”), as well as love from popular influencers, who also make the comparison with McDonald’s.
McKinnon, however, brushes off questions about potential trademark violations, focusing instead on the brand’s positioning as a cleaner and more sustainable fast-food option that he hopes will change the restaurant industry.
“The whole point is to make you feel like a kid again,” he said. “The world is so serious. Too serious.”
Mr. Charlie's in San Francisco. | Photo courtesy of Mr. Charlie's.
For McKinnon, it’s more about the mission. The original location in Los Angeles, for example, has hired about 60 workers from the Dream Center, a nonprofit that once helped McKinnon through a dark time in his life, and he vowed to give back.
McKinnon said he has even helped get people out of jail, promising a judge that he could provide the person with a good job and path to independence. It’s that sort of healing he hopes Mr. Charlie’s can bring to communities.
“What we do is a stepping stone,” he said. “We do not judge you for where you come from.”
As the chain grows, more jobs will be created with similar partnerships, whether through Dream Center or other non-profits that help people in transition find work. Tyson’s wife, for example, helms a women’s shelter in the LA area that helps find jobs for victims of domestic violence, said Wilks.
“We will scale, and we are also open to partner with anybody who needs help,” he said. “You don’t have to be in a homeless shelter. But if you’re someone who has struggled in life … we want to hear from you.”
In addition to LA, Mr. Charlie’s has units in San Francisco and a joint-venture in Sydney, Australia—where the brand has partnered with a group that supports indigenous communities there.
Plant-based quick-service concepts have struggled of late, even those with celebrity backing.
Actor Kevin Hart’s four-unit Hart House concept in Los Angeles recently shuttered, for example. Veggie Grill last year abandoned its attempt at a plant-based burger concept called Stand Up Burger.
Wilks said competitors in the plant-based world simply didn’t do it right.
“I don’t think anybody’s done it right,” he said. “But we have something that nobody else has,” referring both to Tyson’s fame and the operational know-how to run a lean concept.
The chain is not ready to reveal which markets Mr. Charlie’s may go next, but he teased that more celebrity news connected with the brand is coming. And he said the QSR space is ripe for innovation.
“I think the plant-based industry is just scraping the surface,” said Wilks.
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