“Pinky” Cole Hayes is a Jamaican-American restaurateur, author, community activist, and owner of the Slutty Vegan restaurant chain and Bar Vegan in Atlanta, Georgia. Cole Hayes is a culinary disruptor in the industry, transforming America’s view of plant-based fast food and striving to make plant-based eating delicious, accessible, and enjoyable for vegans and flexitarians alike. 

John Shegerian: Do you have a suggestion for a Rockstar Impact Podcast guest? Go to impactpodcast.com and just click, be a guest, to recommend someone today. This edition of the Impact Podcast is brought to you by ERI. ERI has a mission to protect people, the planet, and your privacy, and is the largest fully integrated IT and electronics asset disposition provider and cyber security focused hardware destruction company in the United States, and maybe even the world. For more information on how ERI can help your business properly dispose of outdated electronic hardware devices, please visit eridirect.com. This episode of the Impact Podcast is brought to you by Closed Loop Partners. Closed Loop Partners is a leading circular economy investor in the United States with an extensive network of Fortune 500 corporate investors, family offices, institutional investors, industry experts, and impact partners. Closed Loop’s platform spans the arc of capital from venture capital to private equity, bridging gaps, and fostering synergies to scale the circular economy. To find Closed Loop Partners, please go to www.closedlooppartners.com.

John: Welcome to another edition of the Impact Podcast. This is a very exciting edition because I’ve got Pinky Cole Hayes with us. She’s the founder and CEO of The Slutty Vegan. Welcome, Pinky, to the Impact Podcast.

Pinky Cole Hayes: Hello. I’m excited to be here in my car like true entrepreneurs would do.

John: I love it that you’re in your car and you’re moving around like every great entrepreneur. You have an amazing background and you’ve won so many awards. You’ve been on Restaurant Hospitality’s 2021 Power List, Forbes’ Next 1000, Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top 100 Powerful Woman. You’ve won so many awards, 2023 Time 100 Next List. Where did this fascinating and wonderful journey start? Where did you grow up and how did you even get on this journey?

Pinky: I started Slutty Vegan in 2018 and I had no idea that this concept would turn into what people believe is an overnight success because nothing about it was overnight. I had my dream job already. What was your dream job? I was a television producer for The Maury Show.

John: So, you were living in New York at that time?

Pinky: I lived in New York and Connecticut. First of all, let me back all the way up. So, I went to college in Atlanta, graduated from college, packed up a duffel bag, a suitcase, and $250 and 30 resumes and I moved to LA with no plan. I’m a jump out the window kind of girl and I’m like, “You know what, if you want to do it, you might as well just do it.” So, I did that and when I got out there, I started acting and I was doing background acting and I was really, really good at it that I became sag, but at the time I was still broke. The struggle is real, but one of my sorority sisters offered me the opportunity to move to New York City to work as a television producer.
So, I started as a PA and then I moved to a television producer and I was really good at that. Then I got a call from The Maury Show asking if I wanted to go to Maury and I went to Maury and I was there for almost three years and that was a turning point in my career because what it did was a couple of things. It allowed me the opportunity to save up my 401k to open up my first restaurant called Pinky’s Jamaican and American and then it also taught me how to deal with people. Where I come from, I’ve only seen one certain kind of people, but working at The Maury Show, I realized that I’m not the only one that got problems. We all got issues and I was able to connect with people from all different walks of life which gave me the experience and a universal capacity to be able to deal with people. So, when I opened up my first restaurant in Harlem, I sold jerk chicken and oxtails and obviously I didn’t eat any of that. I haven’t eaten meat since 2007. But what I realized is I’m really good at creating experiences. Long story short, that restaurant caught on fire. Lost everything. Car got re-pulled. Got kicked out of my apartment. My wages got garnished. It probably was the worst experience of my life that turned into the best experience of my life because what it did for me is it gave me the opportunity to move to L.A. to work as a casting director on a TV show for the O Network and then while I was at that show, and it’s a therapy show, go figure, so while I was stressed, I was able to work on a therapy show and get the healing that I need. So, I temporarily moved to Atlanta and that is when Slutty Vegan was born in my two-bedroom apartment.

John: Before you move to Atlanta, I want you to take me back a little bit. When you were a very young little girl, where did you grow up? Where was your formative years?

Pinky: I grew up in Baltimore City. If you know anything about my story, both of my parents are Jamaican. My father came in his early 20s and my mother came to America when she was 17 on a dance grant. She ended up not completing the trip because she met my dad. So, the day that I was born, my father was being sentenced to 30 years in prison. Crazy. So, I grew up in a single-parent household. Even though my father wasn’t physically there, he’s probably the most brilliant man that I’ve ever met in my life. He would tell me to read books like Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Think and Grow Rich. He would teach me about stocks. So, I got an appetite for entrepreneurship early. I’m like, “I could do this.” So, I got the best of both worlds. I saw my mother work multiple jobs and be an entrepreneur at the same time and then my father was in federal prison. So, he was a businessman.

John: He was still a good presence in your life because he was giving you great guidance.

Pinky: He was giving me great guidance, which I feel like gave me the ability to focus on what the goal was. The goal was to be able to create a path of financial freedom for myself and ultimately for my family. So, Baltimore was definitely a unique experience for me.

John: I love it. In your apartment you started the Slutty Vegan. Now, this was 2018, you said?

Pinky: 2018. Let me tell you something. I don’t know how many people are going to watch or listen to this, but I believe that we all have a purpose in life. I hate to get super spiritual, but I’m going to do it anyway. I believe that we all have a purpose in life. It’s just a matter of how you identify how to unlock that purpose. Around the time when I created Slutty Vegan, I started reading one book a day. I started working out every day, running five miles a day. I’m crazy.
I know, and I didn’t want to go out. I didn’t want to hang with friends. I was just in idea mode. I just wanted to build and create. But I didn’t even realize that I was preparing to create a $100 million brand. But the universe aligned that way that I needed to get ready because something that was about to come in front of my face that would be so powerful, I had to be prepared. So, I think when I go back to the space of where I was and my mindset when I created Slutty Vegan, I was the clearest that I’ve ever been. I was the focus that I’ve ever been. It allowed me the ability to create Slutty Vegan, and it took off literally just like lightning.

John: When you stopped eating meat in 2007, was it a friend? Was it some other inspiration? Was it an article? What made you stop eating meat and turn to the plant-based lifestyle to start with?

Pinky: Funny story. I grew up in a Rastafarian household. If you know anything about Rastafarianism, it’s Ethiopian Christianity. Growing up in my house, we had to cooked meal every single day except for Fridays. Every day, you’re going to eat sardines and rice. You’re going to eat beans and rice. You’re going to eat fish and rice, sautéed tuna and rice, beans and rice. Then on Friday, you had to figure it out. I grew up in a pescatarian household, and I would eat chicken here and there, never ate beef, never ate pork in my life. My grandmother would make chicken, so it was like, you’re going to eat this, so we had to eat it. But in 2007, I actually got food poisoning. I had a chicken sandwich, and I got food poisoning from it. I’m like, “I’m never doing this again.” I cut meat out, completely cold turkey, so I still ate fish during that time. Then in 2013, I went completely vegan, no cheese, no fish, anything. That was also another cold turkey opportunity for me. Let me tell you what I realized. I’ve always been a master faster. I’ve always been super conscious on the food that I consume, the things that I listen to. I’ve always just been very clear on that. When I decided to go vegan, when I tell you, that was the best decision that I’ve ever made in my life. One, because I have a level of mental clarity that many people really don’t have, in my selfish opinion. Then what I also believe is it gave me the opportunity to create something where I’m passionate about veganism, and I can create a business around it. That’s a win for win. Money can’t buy that.

John: That’s right. Now you’re Marcia Slutty Vegan. How’d you come up with that name, by the way?

Pinky: Do you want to know the truth? What is the audience here?

John: Everybody loves the truth. That’s all I can tell you. They love the truth.

Pinky: I was smoking weed.

John: It’s legal most of the time today, so don’t worry about that.

Pinky: Listen, let me tell you something. I’m not even a smoker. I don’t smoke, I don’t drink. It was this one rainy night that I wanted some vegan comfort food on a late night. The person that I was with at the time, he was smoking. I’m like, “Let me get some of that.” I tried it, and I was literally and figuratively on cloud nine. That’s when the ideas started flowing. The ideas flowed, and Slutty Vegan just came out of nowhere. It’s funny because you know how you think about ideas, and it takes you a long time for it to come into fruition? Everything about Slutty Vegan just fell in place. There was no rhyme or reason. It wasn’t difficult. I knew that this was what I was supposed to be doing because it did not feel difficult. Shout out to whatever strand of medicinal marijuana that I had at that moment because it birthed an idea that is really going to set me up for the rest of my life.

John: I love it. From the birth of that, genesis of that idea that night to the first Slutty Vegan store, how long was that process, and how did you raise the money, and who wrote the business plan with you? Explain how that process worked. People love to know the story behind the story on the entrepreneurial journey.

Pinky: Business plan? What is that? I did not create a business plan when I started Slutty Vegan. I can say that now because obviously I have systems and structure and all the stuff that you need to run a business. But when I started Slutty Vegan, it was just like, “I got this good idea. Let me figure it out. I know one thing I’m not going to do is fail, so I’m going to make it make sense by any means necessary.” So, I started and I came up with the idea in July. I opened up The Cher Kitchen in August. I got a food truck in September of 2018. Then I opened up my first brick and mortar January 13th, 2019. You see, I’m a date girl. I remember dates like yesterday.

John: That’s a fast run right there.

Pinky: Let me tell you, when I first started Slutty Vegan, people would run after my food truck. I would have 300 to 500 people standing in line every day, and they still do almost six years later. You know, in the restaurant business, that is hard. For me to create a phenomenon where people feel seen, they feel like they can see themselves, they can feel like they can be a part of a movement, that is something to talk about. Creating that concept and being able to grow these things so fast, I bootstrapped this business. I didn’t have any loans when I started Slutty Vegan. I was making five grand a week as a casting director. Remember what I told you? I had my dream job. I could afford to be able to pay the bills and do what it is that I needed to do and I grew my business that way. It wasn’t until I did a raise in 2021 that I started growing my business exponentially. When it comes to scale, you need money to scale like yes, I could have bootstrapped it, but it would have taken me much longer to get where I am now. So, I got with my trusted partners, Richie Lou Dennis, who owns New Voices, and Enlightened Hospitality Group, led by Danny Meyer. Legend himself. They became my investors.

John: Those are some legendary investors right there. They must have seen a lot in you personally and a lot in your concept to lay it down because Danny Meyer doesn’t do anything casually.

Pinky: It’s funny. Everybody says that about him, what I respect about him and Richie Lou Dennis is they’re very intentional in their approach to leadership, to investing in business. There’s a story behind it. It’s not like, “I just want money. I just want a return.” But they really care about the people that they invest in. They really care about me. They are like big brothers to me. I have the Michael Jordan’s of the marketing and media and the restaurant space. I’m happy about that.

John: Between January 13th of 2019 and when you did that raise and brought in those legendary investors, when did you go to bed one night and say, “This is going to work? This is going to be bigger than I ever dreamed. This is going to take me to the moon and back.” When did you have that aha moment during that two-year period before you did the big raise?

Pinky: I have not had that aha moment. The day that I had that aha moment, I’m going to be butt naked on a beach with a coconut. But right now, I’m not there yet. There’s a lot of work to do. I got to be honest. Running a business is very difficult. Even when I’m at my best, I feel like I’m not doing enough. Do I need to give myself the flowers? Absolutely. Look at where I am right now. I’m doing an interview with you. I’m in my car. I’m next to my food truck and just assessing and making sure that everything is good. I’m just wired that way. I love the work it is that I do, but I don’t feel like I am where I want to be yet. As long as I have that mindset, I’m going to continue to be hungry.

John: You have eyes on everything, and you always feel that you can make whatever you’re doing better.

Pinky: Yes, that too. I’ve also learned along the way that I have to entrust people to come in the business that have the level of expertise to do the things that I don’t have the time to do. I just recently revamped my entire company. I can’t believe I’m saying this out loud, but I eliminated my whole C-suite, and I am rebuilding in real time because it is important for me to make sure that the legacy is bulletproof. The people that I had were great. I want to preface that. I don’t know if you know this about me, but I had three kids. I had a baby in 2021, a baby in 2022, a baby in 2023. I just had a baby in December. I’ve been busy, literally and figuratively. Now that I am back…

John: And your business is a baby? I mean like…

Pinky: My business is a baby. I just got married in June. It’ll be one year soon. I’ve always been the mascot of my brand, but I stopped doing the day-to-day of my brand. I don’t know how many entrepreneurs you have listening to this, but I learned a very valuable lesson. I know you didn’t ask me this, but I’m going to tell you anyway. I learned a very valuable lesson in business that you can never take your hand off the wheel. It is very important to make sure that your eyes and ears are always on the ground, especially if it’s something that you created and you are counting on to create a generational path for your family. Now, as of January 1, I’m fully back. I’m fully vested in my business. I’m excited. I’m falling in love with my business again. I don’t know if you see the passion in my voice, but I’m in a really good space. I’m happy to be here. I work really hard to get the business to where it is now. There’s no stopping here.

John: For our listeners and viewers who just joined us, we’ve got Pinky Cole Hayes with us today. She’s the founder and CEO of The Slutty Vegan. To find Pinky, you can go to IamPinkyCole.com. Pinky, tell me about this amazing book you wrote here, Eat Plants Bitch, 91 Vegan Recipes That Will Blow Your Meat-Loving Mind. When did you decide to write this book, and how was it received when you wrote it? I love this book, by the way.

Pinky: I was sitting in the house one day, and I’m like, “I’m going to write a cookbook. I’m going to name it Eat Plants Bitch.” Everybody said that I was crazy. I did that because my marketing is so racy and raunchy. I’m like, “If I’m going to do it, I got to go the mile.” Basically, what that is, it’s really a Bible for the meat eater. This ain’t for the vegan. The vegans already figured it out. The vegans don’t want slutty vegan. They already ate that a million times over. They got it. 70% of my audience are meat eaters, which is unheard of at a vegan restaurant. I need to be able to meet them where they are. Historically, when you think about veganism, vegans always condemn meat eaters because they eat meat and they eat dead animals. That’s your problem. What I decide to consume in my body has everything to do with me, and I’m not going to judge you for who you are. However, what I will do is I will give you a toolkit to learn how to make more plant-based meals so that you don’t have to eat meat all day, every day. It went over very well. We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback. The book was nominated for a couple of awards, one including the NAACP Awards. We’ve sold tons of books. We’ve got a lot of positive reviews from the book. I’m just happy that people get the option to incorporate vegan meals into their lifestyle. People think vegan food is nasty. No, it’s not. You just don’t know how to cook.

John: That’s number one. Like you said, “It’s not all or nothing.” People can rotate some plant-based food into their life. They don’t have to cut out everything they’re doing, but they can make themselves feel better by cutting out some of the junk that they’re eating and eat more plant-based food.

Pinky: Even if it starts with vegan burgers and fries. Because it’s always a starting point. You can’t tell somebody to go cold turkey and just be vegan or eat vegan food. Sometimes you got to give them something that they’re familiar with. My food is comfort vegan food. When you go to Slutty Vegan, you are not going to sell it. We don’t sell that. You are going to get a burger and fry.

John: How many locations do you have now?

Pinky: I have 14 locations.

John: In Atlanta and what other cities?

Pinky: Atlanta, Birmingham, New York, and Dallas. Baltimore is coming soon.

John: Ten years from now, how many locations are you going to have in America? Are we going to have a Slutty Vegan in every major city in the United States in 10 years?

Pinky: That’s funny, I used to think that. I used to want that. What I realized is that Slutty Vegan is an experiential brand. My concept is different from a lot of concepts that I’ve seen around and my husband is also in the restaurant space. He owns a franchise of restaurants, so I can speak fluently about this because he sells cheesesteaks and I sell vegan burgers. What I’ve learned is that Slutty Vegan is an experiential brand. Slutty Vegan is not going to be on every corner. That’s not the goal. I think our goal is to identify new customers versus repeat customers. Historically, restaurants always focus on the repeat customers. I’m like, “Wait a minute. There’s a world in which we can focus on the new customer because if the new customer comes, then that means the people from around the world who are tourists, every time they come to a certain state, states where tourists frequent, they can come to Slutty Vegan and have an experience of a lifetime and go back to their hometown and tell a friend and tell a friend, and then they’ll come back.” We’ve shifted our emphasis into, instead of being in just every location, everywhere that there’s a spot available to be Slutty Vegan, we are curating spaces like the Vegas’s of the world, the Miami of the world. Spaces where people say, “You know what? I got to come to Slutty Vegan because I can’t get Slutty Vegan everywhere, but when I do go to Slutty Vegan, I know that I’m going to get a good experience.”

John: Talk about this book. This is your new book. I Hope You Fail by Pinky Cole. Ten Hater Statements Holding You Back from Getting Everywhere You Want. This is another very provocative title. Talk a little bit about what made you write this book and what are the key takeaways you want readers of this book to get?

Pinky: Let me go back. I did a commencement speech in 2022, and it was at Clark Atlanta University. I was the youngest commencement speaker. The theme of that was, “I Hope You Fail.” I was talking about graduating from college as the queen of the school, but I couldn’t find a job. Nobody would hire me. I couldn’t even get an internship. Having to navigate through life in a way where it felt uncomfortable. Then having my restaurant and the restaurant burning down and my car getting rebooted and getting kicked out of my apartment and wages getting garnished and being in a bad relationship. All of the things. What I realized is that life is going to life. Shit is going to happen. Excuse my language, but it’s just going to happen. That’s okay.
But how do you deal with, when life happens? How do you navigate through when the bad things happen to you and you’re trying to figure out how to get to the next step? That’s why I created that book. It really is a fundamental blueprint on how you can re-engineer when bad things happen so you can come out on top. For example, in the book I talk about, I Hope He Cheats On You. Obviously, I’m not saying I want you to get cheated on, but what I want you to understand and identify is that whether you are a man or a woman in a relationship, if that relationship is not working out and you’re finding consistent problems, maybe that means that it’s not supposed to work out. Maybe that’s setting you up for what you want and love and what you don’t want and love so that when you get in your new relationship, you say, “You know what? Been there, done that and I know the signs, I know the [Inaudible]. Sometimes when we go through experiences, it really is about the lesson in it all and that is what I’ve learned over the years. That’s exactly what this book does.

John: Don’t pay attention to the haters. Keep your eye on the goal and just keep moving forward.

Pinky: Guess what? Sometimes you don’t even realize that the haters are really giving you a layup because in hate, it’s really hidden admiration. These are the people that give you the constructive criticism that sometimes you need to be able to get better. When people say negative things about the business, because it’s inevitable, people will say things, I use that as constructive criticism. What could I have done differently? What can I do to make sure that this never happens again? It actually helps me. So, let’s understand how we can take negative things and really make them a positive. I’ve been focusing on that exercise.

John: Doesn’t that put the proverbial chip on your shoulder, which all the great ones like the Jordan’s and the Woods and all the greatest performers on the planet have a chip on their shoulder, which gets them out of bed and gets them into their competitive mode anyway?

Pinky: Absolutely. Listen, I’m a competitor by heart. You asked me and I told you, I don’t think that I’ve made it. The competitor in me continues to wake up every single day and to be honest, feel like I’m not doing enough, i.e. feeling like what society would call a failure and really going and grabbing it by the horns and making sure that I conquer the day every single day. I talk about that in the book. Conquering the day, making sure that you’re intentional about your day and being a competitor in the things that you want, not competing with anybody else, but competing with yourself so that you can be the best versions of yourself.

John: Besides slutty vegan, what’s your other concept, bar vegan, what is that?

Pinky: The Bar Vegan is a bar. This is vegan. It’s like the little sister to slutty vegan and I created it on my couch in my house because I’m not a drinker, but I noticed that when I go to a bar with friends, there’s never like vegan food available with the bar experience and I wanted to create something for people to say, “You know what? I can have bar food plus vegan food and have a really vibey moment and I don’t have to feel like I’m in a club, like it doesn’t feel rowdy. It feels like a smooth experience where my friends and I can come and hang out.” I created that and it’s funny that that business is becoming a multi-million dollar company by accident and I’m like, “Here we are.” So I’m excited about that. I’ve also had, I also have something called American Sesh and it’s a collaboration forum with entrepreneurs, celebrities, creative executives and then I also have the Pinky Co. Foundation where I do a lot of philanthropic work.

John: Where is American Sesh, where can people watch that?

Pinky: You can’t watch it anywhere unless you’re a celebrity. So you have to be invited to attend which is really, really dope. So we put out like an RFP and then people have to submit themselves and then we choose them like that. But this creates a space where you really got to be in the room to understand what happens in the room and it’s a very special experience. We play games, we give entrepreneurs the opportunity to get money to support their business and we give them resources and listen, the reality of it is burgers and fries are good, Slutty Vegan is amazing but I truly believe that the universe has aligned for me to use Slutty Vegan as the vessel to be able to provide financial literacy, generational wealth and opportunities and resources for entrepreneurs and creatives. That is the work that speaks to my spirit and I feel like the funnel is Slutty Vegan to help people to reimagine food.

John: How often do you do the American Sessions?

Pinky: We do twice a month and we do them on Sundays and they’re magnificent. You got to come, they’re magnificent.

John: I would love that. If you invite me, I’m going to be there. You just mentioned that Slutty Vegan is the vessel for the greater work and the impact that you’re making. When you lay down at night and when you think about everything you’re doing and you’re doing a lot besides author and activist, show creator, restaurateur, entrepreneur, mom, wife, what is your most greatest impact? What gets you going the most out of all those amazing hats that you wear?

Pinky: What gets me going the most is when people are proud of the work that it is that I do. You know how people say, “I don’t care what people say about me.” I do, because I’m in a service-based business and the business that I am in, I care about how people feel about my brands and my business. How does it move them? How does it make them feel? Does it make them feel like they can run into a brick wall and conquer the world? Does my energy make you feel proud to know that you’ve patronized a woman-owned, Black-owned business? A business that started as a mom and pop and now going into the largest airport in the world? Does my concept make you feel proud to be an entrepreneur? What makes me proud is people who I’ve never met in my life come up to me and tell me that my concept has changed their life. That makes me work harder. It makes me be more intentional about the business and the brand because I understand that it’s not just kids that are watching me. There are people in their 30s. I got people in their 60s that are watching me and following my blueprint, which half of the time I don’t know what I’m doing. But they’re following my blueprint because they see me do it and they see me do it transparently and also do it with a smile. So that’s what makes me proud.

John: I love thinking. You know what the truth is? Most people don’t know what they’re doing half the time. It’s just some people are just thinking better than others. You have three little babies now. They’re going to grow up. My kids are above my shoulder here. They’re now adults at 37 and 31. But they’re going to say something one day. They’re going to be 14 or 15 or 18 or 20 or 22. How are they going to finish that sentence? “Hey, my mom is…”

Pinky: Crazy.

John: No. Really?

Pinky: But I’m going to tell you why crazy.

John: Tell me.

Pinky: Because I have a level of unwavering faith. When I tell you that I will jump off a ledge, my father always told me success is like mud. You got to throw something on the wall and something is going to stick. So when they say mom is crazy, mom is going to come up with crazy ideas and she’s going to execute them. Mom is going to have the crazy belief that she can do anything that it is that she wants to do. Even when people tell her, no, mom is crazy enough to walk in a room full of strangers, full of billionaires, full of multimillionaires and still be herself because that is who she authentically is. My mama is crazy, but crazy means good.
Crazy death doesn’t always mean bad. That is what my kids will say.

John: That’s beautiful because you know why, all the people that were called crazy first, that changed this world, turned out to be really geniuses. So crazy and genius go together, honestly.

Pinky: It goes together. Absolutely.

John: You’re amazing. I’m coming to Atlanta in June. I’m going to look you up. I’m going to contact you and we’re going to get together. I want to give you a hug. I want to take a picture with you in person. I’m going to eat the great food at the Slutty Vegan. For our listeners and viewers out there, these books are available all across America in great bookstores and on amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com. I Hope You Fail by Pinky Cole or Eat Plants Bitch, 91 Vegan Recipes by Pinky Cole. She’s Pinky Cole Hayes. You can find her at iampinkycole.com. Pinky, thank you for all that you do. Thank you for making the world a better place. Thank you for joining us on the Impact Podcast today.

Pinky: Thank you.

John: This edition of the Impact Podcast is brought to you by Engage. Engage is a digital booking platform revolutionizing the talent booking industry. With thousands of athletes, celebrities, entrepreneurs, and business leaders, Engage is the go-to spot for booking talent for speeches, custom experiences, live streams, and much more. For more information on Engage or to book talent today, visit letsengage.com. This edition of the Impact Podcast is brought to you by ERI. ERI has a mission to protect people, the planet, and your privacy, and is the largest fully integrated IT and electronics asset disposition provider and cybersecurity-focused hardware destruction company in the United States, and maybe even the world. For more information on how ERI can help your business properly dispose of outdated electronic hardware devices, please visit eridirect.com.