Oceanside restaurateur and regeneretarian, Jessica Waite is a tireless advocate for improving and educating people on food systems. Empowering communities is one of her most essential feats, revealing that what one eats is one of the most important things we can do for the health of our communities and the planet, all the while making badass food with plants. Her goal is to build a business based on the ideals of conscious capitalism; a strategy that will benefit all stakeholders, partners, customers, and the environment.

In 2017, while attending the California Resource Recovery Association in San Diego, Jessica wrote the first business plan for a restaurant with a zero-waste ethos and an entirely plant-based menu. Two and a half years later, the first location of The Plot opened in South Oceanside. The Plot is yet another extension of Jessica’s sustainability projects that she has pursued with husband and partner Davin for over ten years. A vegetarian by age seven and vegan for almost half of her 38 years, Jessica considers The Plot to be the most culture-shifting restaurant she’s conceived to date. The Plot, a 100% plant-based oasis, focuses on the whole vegetable, the total utilization of fresh, boundary-pushing ingredients – some of which are grown directly behind the restaurant. The Plot was awarded the Best New Restaurant in 2020 by San Diego Magazine and awarded one of the Best New Restaurants in the US by The Vegetarian Times in 2021. In 2023, The Plot was ranked #2 in Tasting Table’s list of the “20 Best Restaurants in San Diego” and one of “The Most Sustainable Vegan Restaurants Nationwide” by Veg Out.

Jessica is prepared to feed the evolution and illuminate the idea that plant based eating does not have to be dull but rather colorful, imaginative, and full of flavor. The Plot Express recently opened in Carlsbad, California and will soon be followed by the opening of The Plot, Costa Mesa in Fall 2023. Along with her husband and partner, Chef Davin Waite, the two own/operate Wrench & Rodent Seabasstropub (Oceanside), The Plot (Oceanside), Shoots Fish & Beer (partners, Oceanside), Brine Box (partners, Oceanside), The Plot Express (Carlsbad), Shoots Fish & Beer (partners, Carlsbad).