Cali’s Natural Foods, whose owner also runs Vertical Diner and Vertical Deli, provides vegan and vegetarian products to many Utah restaurants.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) A fire-damaged building that housed the manufacturing facility for Cali’s Natural Foods, at 980 South 700 West in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025.
A Salt Lake City-based vegan and vegetarian food manufacturer — which supplies plant-based ingredients to restaurants around the Salt Lake Valley — is promising to stick around, after their facility was destroyed in a fire last week.
“We produce specialty plant-based foods for use by other commercial enterprises, such as restaurants, bars, cafes, as well as institutional venues,” Ian Brandt, the owner and founder of Cali’s Natural Foods, said.
According to Hannah Youell, a spokesperson for the Salt Lake City Fire Department, the cause of the fire at the building at 960 S. and 700 W. is “undetermined” and it has “suffered extensive damage.”
“The environment doesn’t exist anymore, the roof is collapsed,” Brandt said.
Just a month earlier, Brandt said Cali’s had secured an account for the Delta Center, with Salted Honey Hospitality, which he said is also the contract holder for Real Salt Lake and the Salt Lake Bees.
The company tested 14 different plant-based, faux chicken wings and enjoyed Brandt’s Tender Tigers the best.
As a result, Brandt bought loads of new equipment to increase production in their facility. Brandt is also the owner of Vertical Diner in Salt Lake City and Vertical Deli in South Salt Lake which opened earlier this summer. The products used at both those locations were coming out of the Cali’s facility.
“When I started the business in 1998, there weren’t commercial products for plant-based foods,” Brandt said. So he started inventing recipes, and as the company grew, he realized he’d need more manufacturing space than what his restaurant could provide.
Despite the setback at a time of growth for his business, Brandt said he’s looking at contracting with other manufacturers, and trying to find another permanent facility with a bigger capacity. Right now, he said he has a temporary location.
(Sean P. Means | The Salt Lake Tribune) Vegan Tiger Wings from Handlebar, a Salt Lake City restaurant. Cali’s Natural Foods, which makes Tiger Wings and other vegan products for restaurants around the Salt Lake Valley, is bouncing back from a fire that destroyed the company’s manufacturing facility.
A number of local Utah restaurants and coffee shops utilize products from Cali’s, including The Pie Pizzeria, Piper Down Pub, Coffee Garden and Scovilles.
Jeff Krie, the owner of Scovilles, said he has been doing business with Brandt since 2010.
Krie was a former co-owner of the Trolley Wing Co., which closed its locations in July. When they were at the Trolley Square shopping center years ago, before their move to Sugarhouse, Brandt approached them about selling his vegan wings.
The appetite for the Tender Tigers, at a primarily meat-based restaurant, was exponential, Krie said. So they made it a menu staple and added vegan ranch dressing to go with them.
“Ever since that happened, I started marking my menu with what’s vegan,” Krie said. “[It] kind of helps promote veganism in the city, because I never would have done that before, had I not started selling vegan wings.”
If there’s any gap in production of the vegan wings, Krie said he’ll “definitely hear” about it from customers.
The fire at the Cali’s facility is the second blaze that has destroyed a vegan food business in Salt Lake City in just over a month. In early September, Blatch’s BBQ owner and pitmaster Chris Blatchford was injured when a fire broke out in his Avenues garage location.
Brandt said he is set on keeping any gaps in production as short as possible. “We’re still going, and we’re pretty much close to being able to support all the accounts we already have that we’ve already committed to,” he said.
In the meantime, if people want to help, Brandt asks that they come visit Vertical’s Diner or Deli. The community is rallying to help how they can — Steven Fox, a local tattoo artist, created a shirt people can buy to support the Tender Tigers and Brandt.