Ribbon Cutting for Not Ya Mama's Vegan Cafe!

Lisa and Gary, both born and raised in Lynn, started Not Ya Mama’s in 2021 as a pop-up with one goal: to bring the comfort food they grew up loving to the plant-based world, without the boring stuff. After opening their first restaurant in Worcester in 2022, they found their way back to the North Shore and opened Salem’s first exclusively plant-based comfort food cafe at the historic Witch City Mall in 2025.

Today, they run a family-owned business alongside their adult children, serving up house-made chick’n, their famous nut-free mac & cheese, and comfort food with attitude. They’re proud to be recognized by the Salem Chamber as the 2026 Best New Business, named Best Vegan/Vegetarian Restaurant by BONS, and nominated by VegNews for Best New Vegan Restaurant in the country. Their mission is simple: make food so good you forget it’s vegan.