Karma Never Tasted So Good

Good Karma Cafe & Grill is not what it was one year ago. Originally focused on catering to Exeter’s vegan community, the small restaurant has transformed into the town’s first traditional "burger joint," as the website describes it, while still maintaining its local charm. Along with this conversion came an expansion of the menu, as well as the creation of a mobile app. The restaurant is hoping to utilize technology to popularize its new, major evolutions.

The restaurant was founded with the mission of providing quality, fast food prepared using local produce. According to the website, Good Karma’s owner, Ed Doris, wanted to offer healthy and delicious options for all types of eaters, particularly vegans and vegetarians. Another important tenet was attentive service, something Doris believed was just as important as the quality of the meal being served.

Good Karma was previously run by both Ed Doris and his partner. When his strictly vegan partner left, Doris wanted to change the style of Good Karma to one closer to his heart—so Good Karma became a "burger joint" of sorts, with a new chef and menu.

While the recent changes seem major, Good Karma has still maintained its original doctrine of good service and quality food made from solely local produce. The menu revamp and the technology modernization were done in order to expand the restaurant's accessibility, allowing even meat-lovers to enjoy Good Karma.

Until recently, Good Karma was strictly for vegans, but they now have a variety of burgers and wraps available, all containing high quality local meat. "We’ve done a BYOB- Build Your Own Burger/Bowl. So essentially you get to choose your protein and whatever you want to put on it, and then you can pretty much customize it to whatever you’d like. We’ve got a lot of grass-fed beef, all natural chicken," chef Brad Jiminez said.

Good Karma’s menu also boasts a variety of salads, sandwiches, smoothies and milkshakes. The new menu appeals to a wider group of people. "We’re just trying to make our menu a little bit more accessible to everybody, not specifically vegans," Jiminez said.

Good Karma has been well liked in Exeter, but the recent changes have caught the interest of a whole new group of people. "It’s good quality food. It’s great food. Obviously there isn’t a big network of vegans in the area. We’re definitely getting more business and a wider range of customers," employee Emily Siegart explained.

"It’s good quality food. It’s great food. Obviously there isn’t a big network of vegans in the area. We’re definitely getting more business and a wider range of customers."

Jiminez echoed Siegart’s comments, "I mean, it’s New Hampshire. It’s not exactly the vegan capital of the world." Even after the changes, the menu still remains vegan and vegetarian friendly, but it now has a much broader spectrum of choices.

Students have generally approved of the changes in the menu. As a day student, prep Gavin Hickey has been able to see the restaurant evolve. "The old Good Karma was good. I really liked how they had good food without using meat," he said. "But I think it’s much better now. I like how they have both vegan and non-vegan food, but it’s still delicious and healthy. I really love the chicken teriyaki bowl."

Alongside the menu expansion, the creation of a mobile app has been a huge change for the restaurant. Good Karma is working to keep up with the trends of the day, competing with fast food chains like Taco Bell and Wendy’s. The app has expedited the ordering process, allowing users to choose from the full menu and make any necessary customizations within a small notes section. Not only does the app retain the customization options, it allows customers to specify a certain date and time of pick-up. Even more revolutionary to the restaurant, a delivery option is now available. A delivery order may be placed at any time during the day between six and nine at night, Monday through Saturday.

Although these changes have already made a huge impact on customer interest, Good Karma has not shown any signs of slowing down. The restaurant aims to consistently change and keep its dedicated regulars on their toes, all while encouraging new groups of people to come. In the future, customers can expect to see a burger of the week policy and regular updates to the app. Moreover, they can continue to see good quality service and food from local produce, a feature Good Karma does not plan on losing anytime soon.