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FOOD & DRINK
SCOTTSDALE PROGRESS | WWW.SCOTTSDALE.ORG | OCTOBER 17, 2021
Food & Drink
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Fast-casual vegan eatery planned for Scottsdale BY MALLORY GLEICH Progress Staff Writer
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n 2019, Arizona transplant Daniel Homaijani had an idea for a vegan burger restaurant that he wanted to share with the Valley, but he wasn’t sure how to go about it. The first idea was a pop-up shop, but then he thought, “I’m going to chase my dream.” He took some time, did plenty of research, and that is how UNiQ Burger came to be. “I knew this concept could be trendy, so after my researching, I decided just to dive in and open an actual restaurant,” Homaijani said. UNiQ Burger is a 100 percent plantbased eatery that will open in early 2022 at the Fountain Plaza off McDowell and Hayden roads in Scottsdale. Guests will order at the counter, be seated and called to pick up their meal.
“It was quite a struggle to find a location that would work for UNiQ, so it’s exhilarating to finally be in the home stretch of this rollercoaster of an expe-
have many vegan options and that the vegan demographic was much more significant in that part of the Valley. UNiQ will serve a signature burger made with a thin-sliced and seasoned Impossible patty, grilled onion, lettuce, vegan cheese and UNiQ sauce (a secret Daniel Homaijani plans to make an all-vegan burger the menu recipe). “We think that the focal point of his southern Scottsdale restaurant. (Facebook) patty shouldn’t be the star of the burger – rience,” Homaijani said. He explained that each time the team then, it would be like every other spot. The thought a location for the new restaurant combinations of flavor we use are what would work, another business had already makes the burger great,” Homaijani said. The eatery will also serve multiple taken it. They considered moving to a few differsee VEGAN page 37 ent cities but knew that Scottsdale didn’t
Insomnia Cookies offers late-night treats BY MALLORY GLEICH Progress Staff Writer
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rom the east coast to the west comes Insomnia Cookies, a latenight bakery concept that started in an unconventional place – a dorm room in Pennsylvania. Former UPenn student and New York native Seth Berkowitz and his roommates were up late one evening studying when they decided a snack was in order. While they usually settled for takeout, the group was looking for something sweet – and were disappointed when they couldn’t find any open shops. “Based on this universal need – the midnight snack – Insomnia Cookies was born,” Chief Marketing Officer Tom Carusona said. “The first shop opened in Syracuse, New
Back in Philadelphia where Insomnia Cookies was born, the company runs a CookieLab to experiment with different flavors and One of the CookieLab creations was this assortment of vibrantly decorated treats. (YouTube) toppings. (YouTube)
York in 2006, and there are now more than 200 locations nationwide.” Berkowitz said that his first location was near UPenn and he chose Syracuse because
of the convenience – the shop was so popular that he opened three Insomnia Cookie shops next, all around the same time. Berkowitz was majoring in finance,
which helped prepare him for what was to come, especially in building the brand and
see COOKIE page 37
