“This gives us a lot of opportunities to promote a plant-based diet,” Picagli said. “And a healthier diet equals a healthier lifestyle.”
The restaurant’s menu uses soy-based products to stand in for seafood or meat. The most popular items have been Southwest Eggrolls, Coconut-Crusted Veg-a-Shrimp and the Portobello Panini sandwich, along with side dishes such as sweet potato fries and a tropical sweet-spicy slaw, Picagli said.
Loving Hut opened last week and is planning grand opening festivities “in a week or two,” Picagli said.
Picagli said he is considering opening a second location just outside the mall at the Villages of Dayton Mall, perhaps as early as November.
He would like to open a third restaurant in or around the Mall at Fairfield Commons in Beavercreek, which, like the Dayton Mall, is operated by Columbus-based Glimcher Realty Trust.
Picagli said the Dayton Mall food court was not his first choice for Loving Hut’s first location. He nearly opened in a location on Brown Street near the University of Dayton, and also looked in the Oregon Historic District and at other locations along Ohio 725. But he noticed the food court, saw the mall’s crowds, approached Glimcher “and here we are,” Picagli said.
The Loving Hut chain of vegan restaurants is affiliated with the Supreme Master Ching Hai International, overseen by Ching Hai, a native of Vietnam who pioneered a meditation method called Quan Yin and who describes herself as “spiritual teacher, artist, and humanitarian.”
On the Loving Hut Dayton’s website, Jody and Jay Picagli say they “have grown to believe in Master Ching Hai’s commitment to a plant-based diet through their burning desire to help save the planet and fight for the ‘Go Green’ cause.”
Loving Hut employs five, and Picagli expects employment to grow to 10 this fall when the second restaurant opens. The restaurant is open from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.
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