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Yummvees is located at 2118 W. Cary St. in the former TBT El Gallo space. (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
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The takeout area inside Yummvees (Photo courtesy Yummvees)
For Tracy Flitcraft, opening the vegan restaurant Yummvees has been a journey of resilience, persistence and self-discovery. A dedicated plant-based eater for 16 years, she debuted her new takeout spot in the Fan last week, taking over the former TBT El Gallo space at 2118 W. Cary St.
“As silly or quirky as it sounds,” Flitcraft says, “most things happen for a reason. They’re all meant to get you where you want to be, right?”
For her, that’s serving vegan food she herself wants to eat — carefully crafted, boldly flavored and full of heart. Yummvees started nearly a decade ago and has taken many forms, evolving from an at-home catering side hustle to a concept for a full-blown restaurant and even a ghost kitchen operation.
In 2018, Flitcraft partnered with April Viar and Dave Witte to cook at casual vegan eatery Hang Space in Bon Air (now closed, though it held a pop-up in January), a precursor to pursuing her own venture. She opened Yummvees in 2021 on Courthouse Road.
Tracy Flitcraft, owner and chef of Yummvees (Photo courtesy Yummvees)
A couple years in, struggling to keep the business going, she launched a GoFundMe campaign that raised $30,000. While it was only a temporary fix (the restaurant closed in 2023), it proved there was a network of supporters ready to rally around her.
“That restaurant in Chesterfield was the best and the worst thing; it was an incredible experience,” Flitcraft says. “When that location closed, I actually took a long time off, like I was recovering from something,” she says. “When I say that besides my family, it was the most important thing in my life, that’s not an exaggeration. You never think you’re going to fail or you’re not going to succeed.”
A year later, ChefSuite, a ghost kitchen operation on Broad Street, invited Flitcraft to join. Though hesitant and humbled by her prior closure, she took the opportunity. “I was doing it all. I just needed to get a better handle on why I couldn’t feed the other place. The real benefit of ChefSuite was doing it myself again.”
It was there she would find her flow and regain the confidence she had not only in herself, but in her business. “It was really honing in on the fine details of running a food business,” Flitcraft says. “It was so beneficial in a way, and I think it did give me skills to run a better business and see things in a different light. I think it takes a couple of failures.”
ChefSuite closed in July. When Flitcraft was looking to plant roots again, she wanted to remain faithful to her DoorDash delivery area and the regulars that she had cultivated through ChefSuite, which brought her to her newly minted Cary Street storefront.
Freshly painted, bright and full of new energy, the new Yummvees stays true to Flitcraft’s emphasis on housemade vegan cuisine. “We’re very prep heavy, because we make everything from scratch,” she explains. From cheeses and harissa to meat substitutes such as seitan, nearly every item is made in-house, except the rolls from nearby Montana Gold Bread Co.
The menu features salads including kale with herbed chickpeas, red onion, carrot, avocado, spinach and fresh herbs, or a tofu Cobb with vegan cheese and bacon bits. Bigger plates offer comfort fare, such as fried tofu with cornbread and maple-honey butter; butternut squash mac and cheese; or tofu Parm and baked ziti made with brown rice pasta, cashew cheese, artichokes, roasted red peppers and almond Parmesan.
Snacky shareables include barbecue tofu bites with ranch and piled-high loaded nachos, while sandwiches range from the fan-favorite roasted veggie and harissa sliders — a smashed patty of potato packed with zucchini, squash, onion and shredded carrots, topped with housemade feta and a zippy garlic aioli — to a Nashville hot tofu sandwich, smashburger and a brined pastrami Reuben on buttered marble rye. Find a vegan cheesesteak complete with “wiz” and a grilled tofu ranch sandwich on ciabatta, along with desserts and daily specials.
“I’m about as vegan as you can get, but I’m not that person that’s gonna sit here and talk to you about all the reasons,” Flitcraft says. “I just want to do something in my life that’s at least showing something about my moral compass; that’s how I view what I eat.”
Her virtual brand from ChefSuite, Whack Cakes, also transitioned to the takeout space, with carrot, Boston cream, lemon and strawberry cakes available in a grab-and-go case. While Yummvees currently offers takeout service only, Flitcraft hopes to expand to a sit-down restaurant in the future.
Born in New Jersey and a Richmond resident for decades, she is a self-taught cook and baker, finding her connection to the culinary world after one of the most devastating moments of her life: the death of her unborn child.
“In 2015, I was pregnant, and just out of the blue, I noticed that I didn’t have a lot of movement,” Flitcraft says. “You just never ever think that something like that would happen; it truly changed the scope of my entire life.”
Overwhelmed and unable to eat, she found comfort when a friend began sending meals. “She was really the one who gave me this idea without even knowing it. I just needed to do something and keep my brain and my body moving, and I really enjoy food. That’s really how this all started.”
Flitcraft’s experience shapes how she gives back through the restaurant. “People will reach out to me when they find out someone’s child has passed, or a spouse or someone close, and we’ve always provided free meals in the restaurant. We did a couple of fundraisers for families.”
Though she’s currently subleasing the Yummvees space with an option to re-sign in September, she remains patient in her search for the ideal permanent sit-down location. “I’ll just continue to look. The right place will come; I’m not rushing,” she says.
After years of trial, error and perseverance, Flitcraft has reached a point where she can focus on her food, her community and her vision. “I just look forward to seeing people, the people that have been really supportive to me, and there’s something to be said for that interaction,” she says.
Yummvees is open for takeout service Monday through Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.
