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Phoenix-founded sandwich concept <a href="https://franchise.chebahut.com/?utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=all-of-the-flavor-none-of-the-judgement-toasted-sub-concept-cheba-hut-still-serving-good-vibes-after-21-years-2709142" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Cheba Hut</a> has been keeping it real since 1998 when founder Scott Jennings decided to blend delicious fare with good old anti-establishment vibes. The result? A beloved seven-state, 24-unit &ldquo;toasted&rdquo; sub chain that has built its unique cannabis theme into a deep commitment to hospitality, excellent customer service and majorly munch-able sandwiches and sides. Oh, and conversation-starting sandwich names (see &ldquo;The White Widow&rdquo; or &ldquo;Magic Mushroom&rdquo; subs, or the &ldquo;Bowl o&rsquo; Balls&rdquo; starter).

Notably, <a href="https://1851franchise.com/chebahut" target="_blank">Cheba Hut</a> found success long before the first instance of state-level legalization of marijuana, and in traditionally conservative Arizona to boot. This might surprise some, but not Seth Larsen, Cheba Hut&rsquo;s Chief Relationship Officer.

&ldquo;Our theme is secondary,&rdquo; Larsen explained. &ldquo;The biggest thing we&rsquo;re focused on is hospitality and great food. We&rsquo;re food- and hospitality-driven and that&rsquo;s what makes rabid fans that keep coming back.&rdquo;

One of Cheba Hut&rsquo;s longest-tenured franchisees, Dorian &ldquo;DJ&rdquo; Lenz of Phoenix, Arizona, agreed with Larsen.

&ldquo;We take three things really seriously at Cheba Hut,&rdquo; Lenz said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s culture, food and customer service. So we might seem like pot-smoking hippie goofballs, but we don&rsquo;t mess around with the quality of the product or with our customer service. If our only claim to fame was that we had a weed gimmick, we would have closed a long time ago.&rdquo;

Both Larsen and Lenz emphasized that Cheba Hut&rsquo;s focus on a welcoming, laid-back atmosphere and exceptionally tasty sandwiches&mdash;plus, at several locations, new kick-back-and-relax, full-service bars coupled with an impressive signature cocktail list&mdash;make Cheba Hut a concept open to all.

&ldquo;Being about food and hospitality&mdash;our core customer base, and society in general, embraces that,&rdquo; Larsen said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re an inclusive brand, and we want everyone to feel comfortable&mdash;so if you&rsquo;re a blue collar worker, a soccer mom, a stoner, old, young, it doesn&rsquo;t matter. We want everyone who comes in to feel comfortable.&rdquo;

Lenz said that this welcoming approach&mdash;central to Cheba Hut from day one&mdash;comes from a commitment to zero judgment.

&ldquo;Our culture could be summed up as this: no judgement,&rdquo; Lenz explained. &ldquo;So if you&rsquo;re an employee, and you have long hair and tons of tattoos, but you&rsquo;re a hard worker? No judgment. And that spreads out, to our customers, to our vendors, to the people we do business with. So if you&rsquo;re a police officer? No judgment. If you&rsquo;re a missionary who wants a delicious toasted sub? No judgement.&rdquo;

Cheba Hut&rsquo;s people-focused approach to doing business naturally extends to their marketing as well. The brand doesn&rsquo;t invest in traditional campaigns like TV spots or radio, nor the more-recent social media marketing. Instead, Cheba Hut relies on word of mouth and organic enjoyment.

&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve always been a word-of-mouth brand,&rdquo; Larsen said. &ldquo;That third-party endorsement from a friend or a coworker who loves Cheba Hut is more significant than radio, print or a commercial. Let&rsquo;s say you&rsquo;re on the fence, but a coworker says, &lsquo;Hey, they&rsquo;re quirky guys, but it&rsquo;s priced fairly, the food is great and there&rsquo;s a bar.&rsquo; Now you&rsquo;re interested.&rdquo;

Lenz noted that Cheba Hut is also a concept that becomes a kind of community staple.

&ldquo;I&rsquo;m 40, and I have zero problem taking my kids to a weed-themed sandwich shop, and that&rsquo;s true of most of our customers. In our store, I see teens, college kids, professional business people and parents and kids&hellip;and the parents visiting now used to come as teens!&rdquo; Lenz said. &ldquo;Everywhere you go, people see our merch and respond. Our employees, too&hellip;I don&rsquo;t know a lot of employees who would rep a McDonald&rsquo;s hat going out, but our employees do! We&#39;re about good food, great culture. It shows.&rdquo;

Larsen added: &ldquo;That&rsquo;s all we want: just give us a chance and let us provide that great experience to you. That&rsquo;s how we built this brand and our high AUV [Average Unit Volume]. It&rsquo;s by making sure every customer interaction is important and positive.&rdquo;

Ultimately, then, Cheba Hut&rsquo;s point of differentiation in a competitive sandwich market isn&rsquo;t its cannabis theme: it&rsquo;s an unrivaled commitment to service, quality and good vibes only. That means Cheba Hut can perform well in diverse markets without ever selling out.

&ldquo;We&rsquo;re an edgy brand, that&rsquo;s not gonna change,&rdquo; Larsen said. &ldquo;Scott was a cage-rattling MOFO when he had one store, and still will be when we hit 25 next month.&rdquo;

&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not the average sandwich player out there, nor do we want to be,&rdquo; Larsen explained. &ldquo;And the biggest thing is, when we were founded, we were pigeon-holed into being a college brand. And we love college markets, but we can operate in suburbia, downtown, in states that are more traditionally conservative&mdash;we love those markets. We&rsquo;re food- and hospitality-focused and those are core values across the United States.&rdquo;

To Larsen&rsquo;s point, Cheba Hut has focused on balanced growth, adding three to five stores every year, and utilizing a business model that only signs on franchisees for a minimum of three locations. That focus on brand commitment and scalable growth&mdash;plus an inimitable culture&mdash;earned Cheba Hut an impressively high AUV in 2018: over $1 million, a figure that&rsquo;s exceedingly rare for a sandwich concept.

&ldquo;For 2019, we&rsquo;re focused on that healthy growth and opening stores at or above that average unit volume,&rdquo; Larsen said.

Looks like &ldquo;Green Wave&rdquo; or not, Cheba Hut will keep blazing ahead.

For more information on Cheba Hut Franchising visit <a href="http://franchise.chebahut.com/?utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=all-of-the-flavor-none-of-the-judgement-toasted-sub-concept-cheba-hut-still-serving-good-vibes-after-21-years-2709142" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://franchise.chebahut.com/</a>.

All of the Flavor, None of the Judgement: Toasted Sub Concept Cheba Hut Still Serving Good Vibes After 21 Years

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The cannabis-themed sandwich brand has enjoyed success since well before 2019’s ‘Green Wave.’

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Koji Kanematsu Turned a 2,000-Year-Old Japanese Staple Into One of the Most Scalable Restaurant Franchise Models

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