Cheba Hut San Diego Franchise’s Newly-Unveiled Full Bar Drives Major Spike in Revenue

It’s only been a few weeks since franchisees Jordan Robinson and Ryan Snyder celebrated the soft launch of the revamped bar at one of their San Diego Cheba Hut locations, but all signs already point to major revenue potential.

The bar’s soft opening took place on March 6, and within a mere two weeks, Robinson and Snyder saw significant financial gains at their eastern San Diego Cheba Hut restaurant, located at 6364 El Cajon Blvd. The duo owns another Cheba Hut franchise on San Diego’s Pacific Beach and a third in Eugene, Oregon, but due to local laws in both of those areas, neither of those locations will obtain a liquor license.

Everything is smooth sailing, though, at the El Cajon Blvd. location.

“The bar so far has been phenomenal,” Robinson said. “Over the past two weeks, we’ve had record-setting sales for this location and we haven't even had our grand opening yet. We've seen our bar sales nearly triple by just organically opening the bar and with minimal marketing. The bar is a huge differentiator between us and any similar concept.”

Not only have daily sales at the bar increased, but the new liquor options have helped to energize the evening clientele. While the Cheba Hut brand is still popular with the college crowd, more adults in their 30s, 40s and 50s are showing up for dinnertime at Robinson and Snyder’s location.

“We’ve also noticed that, up until this point, our busiest rushes were during lunch,” Robinson said. “During the last couple of weeks, though, our busiest rushes are at dinnertime. We’ve always been busy at lunch, and now our traffic increases at night.”

The liquor license did not come easy. Liquor licenses in California are only awarded to bars and venues that win the liquor license lottery. In San Diego, the opportunity to enter a liquor license lottery only presents itself every four years. While Robinson and Snyder won the liquor license lottery, it would be a long time until they actually got it.

“We actually thought we were going to get the license a long time ago,” Robinson said. “We won the lottery in October 2017 and paid for the license then, but we only got it now. So we waited for 16 months. It just kept getting delayed.”

Robinson said that customers have been “overjoyed” with the new bar, which involved demolishing and remodeling the old bar.

“We’ve been telling customers for a year and a half that the bar was coming, but due to several delays, it took forever,” Robinson said. “Once we realized we were going to get the liquor license we had to remodel to accommodate the full bar. So now that it’s finally here, people are stoked. They’re excited because we’ve also remodeled our whole store.”

The specialty cocktail menu was developed by Cheba Hut’s Lead Bartender Trainer, Jamie Starring, and so far the most popular drink at Robinson and Snyder’s location is the “Ms. Parker,” which consists of Ole Smokey Blackberry Moonshine, fresh lemon juice and simple syrup with a splash of soda water, Robinson said. Also popular, Robinson said, is the Hash Can, the brand’s version of a Long Island Iced Tea “but instead of Coke it’s an entire can of Red Bull.”

The revamped bar meant it was time to hire a full-time bartender, which has also increased revenue.

“When we just had beer and wine, it was hard to justify having a person with just that particular responsibility,” Robinson said. “Now that we have a full bar, we have a full-time bartender, which has definitely increased sales.”

Robinson and Snyder’s San Diego location will celebrate the grand opening of the bar launch on April 20, the same day as their 4/20 party, which is also the Cheba Hut brand’s Customer Appreciation Day. On that day, for $4.20, Cheba Hut customers will receive a “Nug” four-inch sandwich and a collectible Cheba Hut frisbee. They can also enjoy live music, free giveaways, discounted drinks, a food challenge to get free Cheba Hut food for one year and a cash giveaway at 4:20 p.m.

When asked what advice he would give to prospective and current Cheba Hut franchisees, Robinson emphasized that the key is to have fun with it.

“Our brand is so interesting compared to other franchises,” Robinson said. “We have a lot more freedom to express ourselves through the individual store locations because they're not cookie-cutter stores. Each location has its own vibe and feel through the layout, artwork and murals. The sandwiches and food are exactly the same across the board, but the customer experience changes because none of the locations look the same inside. Again, this goes back to the fact that individual stores have a lot of freedom to express themselves to create unique customer experiences.”