Aratham Gourmet to Go Brings Diverse Vegan Cuisine to Multiple Metro Detroit Locations

05.02.2022 | 4 min read

One of metro Detroit's fastest growing vegan grab-and-go shops, Aratham Gourmet to Go makes fresh and diverse breakfasts, lunches and dinners.

The thought that plant-based diets can be boring and unsatisfying is far from reality at Aratham Gourmet to Go in Metro Detroit.

One of the area’s fastest growing vegan grab-and-go shops, Aratham built its foundation on preparing tasty, fun and affordable breakfasts, lunches, and dinners.

Aratham Founder and Executive Chef Gabriel Vera believes his meals possess three specific qualities that keep customers coming back for more.

“People sometimes are transitioning from a meat-eating diet to a plant-based diet, and they don’t know how, so for us, it’s always important for us to tell them this: you need variety. You need flavor. And you need nutrition,” Vera said. “If you apply those three, you have a great chance of succeeding in that transition.”

Vera has spent years honing his culinary skills and business acumen as the director of food and beverage at high profile hotels and restaurants in Detroit

He enjoyed what he did, but said he developed an itch to do something more substantial with his skillset.

“I remember walking through [one of my former workplaces] one day and walking through the restaurant sometimes, and I didn’t see the connection with the food, that there’s supposed to be,” Vera said. “I wanted to provide food that is going to benefit people’s bodies and their health.”

In 2019, Vera and his wife, Tiffanie, started a meal-delivery service that became a pilot of sorts for what is now Aratham. In less than two years, the vegan grab-and-go concept launched locations in Westland, Troy, and downtown Detroit, inside Chrysler House.

What’s on the Menu at Aratham Gourmet to Go?

At Aratham, organic ingredients and whole foods are king. Menus in each of the business’ three locations change each week. Every grab-and-go lunch and dinner meal is priced at $11.99, and each hearty breakfast bowl is $8.99. Aratham also sells a bevy of cold-pressed raw juices for $8.99 a bottle. Their rotating selection of desserts each cost $8.99.

One standout item from the special April menu, according to Vera, is the Sausage & Peppers Sandwich, which consists of vegan “sausage” made with gluten-free oats and pecan and pumpkin seeds. Customers at Aratham have also grown fond of the Pad Thai, the Palak Tofu, and the Buffalo Chickpea Taco Bowl.

Walk past the open-air display case at Aratham and the bursting array of colors will catch your eye, if the culinary diversity doesn’t do that first.

Aratham Founder and Executive Chef Gabriel Vera and his wife, Tiffanie, started a meal-delivery service in 2019 that became a pilot of sorts for what is now Aratham Gourmet to Go.

“We try to give the menu balance with some salads, soups, pasta dishes, rice dishes, vegetable bowls,” Vera said. “We have three different types of breakfast bowls. And every meal is a different type of cuisine. We have Mediterranean, we have an American-style BLT wrap, Pad Thai, Asia. American contemporary, Indian, Italian. So, every meal is a different type of cuisine.”

Vera said the company name has a mashup meaning to the couple.

“It means ‘the purpose of a plant-based diet,’” he said. “’Aratham’ means ‘purpose’ in Indian and ‘plant-based diet’ in Sanskrit. So, we put the two together.”

The Importance of an Organic, Eco-Friendly Business Model

Not only do the Veras carefully source their ingredients to make sure they are free of pesticides like glyphosate, the zero-waste business owners said they also spring for environmental-friendly packaging.

“A regular plastic container…you can get 500 units for $25,” Vera said. “We pay, for example, $125 for 200 of them. Being eco-friendly is a big thing.”

Vera said he takes pride in packing his meals so full of flavor that his customer base isn’t limited to strictly vegans and vegetarians.

“We have a lot of customers in here, you’d be surprised, a lot of our customers and clients are not vegan but they want to have some healthy choices and incorporate some healthy meals into their week,” Vera said.

He added that some of the feedback he’s received has also consisted of personal health wins from his customers.

“We have so many comments from customers saying their tryglicerates have gone down, their cholesterol levels have down,” he said. “Some customers are fighting different cancers, and this is helping their diet, helping their bodies.”

Other Details and Location Information

Each of Aratham’s three shops also sell a selection of animal-free health and wellness products, ranging from soaps and candles to supplements and CBD products. Aratham still operates its meal-delivery leg of the business as well. The meal delivery online ordering directions can be viewed here.

Each Aratham location is open between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. from Monday through Saturday.