Please note that Garrett’s vegan fast casual restaurant is now called The Brave Bean. This story was developed prior to the name update.

As life stories go, few match up to the inspiration and perseverance of Garrett Greer’s.

It was mid-September when we synced up with Garrett for a backyard cookout with close friends. We brought the grill. He brought the flavour. While we fired up his Nexgrill, his friends filtered in with coolers full of plant-based ingredients. Vegan brats and Impossible patties, vegan cheeses, buns, homemade sauces, a few bottles of vino… a full spread of treats for the evening ahead.

As the party unfolded, we spoke with Garrett about his background, his restaurant, family, friends, his poker career, and his love for grilling.

Garrett is the owner of The Brave Bean (previously known as The Black Bean), a vegan fast casual restaurant that began in Fountain Valley, CA. He’s also a professional poker player with millions in career winnings. Social, handsome, and razor sharp, Garrett’s achieved incredible success. Yet his path to get there has been filled with trials few others could endure. This is Beyond the Flame with Garrett Greer.

March 27th, 2010

Fresh out of UCLA with a degree in sociology, Garrett had his sights set on a career in film and television. He was interning at a production management company in L.A., and on March 26th, 2010, he earned his first real paycheck. On March 27th, 2010, while hanging with friends at a backyard pool, he broke his neck and drowned.

“I don't have much recollection of that day at all,” he says. “I wake up on a Monday afternoon at like 5:00 or 6:00 PM out of a coma with pneumonia in a hospital, knowing something's wrong but not knowing exactly what.”

It wasn’t until Tobin (the friend who resuscitated him) recounted the day’s events that Garrett realized how lucky he was to be alive. The accident would leave him a quadriplegic, unable to walk and with limited mobility in his arms. Yet for Garrett and his resilient spirit, it wasn’t the end, but the beginning of a new way of life.

The Days and Decisions that Followed

Just two days after waking up from his coma, a difficult choice was thrust upon Garrett. He was raised by his grandparents in a loving home, but with their age and months of rehabilitation ahead, they were no longer in a position to take care of him.

“I had to decide whether or not I was going to live with my aunt or my father,” says Garrett. With his father unfit to take him in, Garrett chose to go home with his aunt. “I moved in with her in June of 2010, and then in December of 2010, my aunt and uncle got divorced. They notified me that I had four months left in the house. I needed to figure out what I was going to do, or else I was going to end up in an assisted living facility.”

Playing the Hand He Was Dealt

“At this point, I had no money. I had nothing to my name. No income,” he says. “I decided to hop on my PokerStars account, see if I could make some magic happen.”

“I started with 99 cents on January 15th of 2011. Fast-forward to April 9th of 2011, I have 50K real money, and I'm signing a lease on my own one-bedroom apartment. Poker saved my life.”

Yet still, Garrett’s trials weren’t finished. “I'd signed my lease on April 9th, but on April 15th, there was something called Black Friday. It was every online poker player's worst nightmare. You log on to play and there's a big DOJ symbol. Department of Justice. Just, blam! The site's shut down.”

After 3 weeks of time and uncertainty, he was able to retrieve his money. He took his $50k and found another site to play on, this time being more cautious. “This time I deposited a hundred bucks. Fast forward 10 months, and I turned it into $111,000. Then in early 2013, I played my first big buy-in live tournament–a $10,000 tournament called LAPC–and I ended up getting 7th place for $163,000. And I just thought, "Maybe this is it for me."

Garrett continued playing poker online and in live events to great success. Taking 6th place in the Bay 101 tourney for $174k, finishing 32nd in the 2014 Main Event for $230k, and splitting the 1st place prize at the Five Diamond Tournament at the Bellagio for $1.16 million.

“It's crazy to think that, four years prior, I was sitting in my aunt's living room, not knowing what I was going to do with my life. And four years later, I'm there winning a million dollars.”

Garrett’s Path to Veganism

Despite his insane success in poker, Garrett still felt something nagging at his conscience. “I became aware of the other professionals in my field. And I started to have this sense of guilt. When I'm playing poker and when I'm doing my best, I'm literally providing people a disservice.”

“Now, I know when you enter a poker tournament or you sit down at a cash game, it's your choice. But, personally, I felt like I was feeding a system that was bad for a lot of people. So I started to think, "What can I do to sort of replace this negative that I've created?" It’s around this time that Garrett started playing with his diet, and eventually stumbled into veganism.

“Once I committed to a vegan diet, my digestive problems were gone. I felt very mentally clear. And it just seemed like something that I could be pretty confident I was going to spend the rest of my life being involved in.”

The Next Gamble: Becoming a Restaurateur

Garrett’s discovery of veganism awakened a new path. He was healthier, more focused, and felt a connection to the universe that had never before taken hold.

He began researching ways to make vegan food accessible to the masses. “I decided to open a vegan restaurant,” he says. “I had no experience in the restaurant world, but it's just something that I've always believed in.”

Roughly a year later, Garrett and his partner Michelle opened The Black Bean, a vegan fast casual restaurant that serves animal-free takes on traditional American comfort food.

When you first walk into The Black Bean, there’s a motto that reads “The Black Bean, Free-from-Guilt Food.” “We’re trying to eliminate all the reasons why you could feel bad for something,” he says.

True to his word, at The Brave Bean there are no single use plastics, straws made from sustainable plant materials, even the wood paneling on the walls is made from reclaimed forest fire wood. 90% of the food is made in-house by a kind and lively staff. And with menu items like The Buff Chick, The Pulled Porque, and Animal Lover Fries (a take on In-N-Out’s animal fries), Garrett and his partner are making a vegan diet accessible and appetizing for even the largest skeptics.

Forwarding the Vegan Grilling Movement at OC Vegan Fest

While most brick-and-mortar restaurants don’t take part in events, Garrett and his team are enthusiastic participants at local events like the OC Vegan Fest. “Whenever there is a solid festival that's doing it for the right reasons and not just because of money, and it's ran by good people, we're going to be there.”