{"id":8631,"date":"2019-02-18T16:36:10","date_gmt":"2019-02-18T16:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/?p=3360458"},"modified":"2019-02-18T16:36:10","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T16:36:10","slug":"marijuana-themed-cheba-hut-opening-more-sub-joints-in-colorado-across-the-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/marijuana-themed-cheba-hut-opening-more-sub-joints-in-colorado-across-the-country\/","title":{"rendered":"Marijuana-themed Cheba Hut opening more sub joints in Colorado, across the country"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/marijuana-themed-cheba-hut-opening-more-sub-joints-in-colorado-across-the-country\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<p>A lot has happened since Scott Jennings opened his first Cheba Hut, a marijuana-themed sub shop, in 1998.<\/p>\n<p>What was still pretty daring has become more mainstream, culturally speaking, Jennings said. And what started as one shop in Tempe, Ariz., where Jennings attended Arizona State University, is turning into an enterprise whose goal is to double in size to 50 restaurants in a couple of years and reach 200 by 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Three more of the sandwich shops are set to open in Colorado this year \u2014 Denver\u2019s Stapleton neighborhood, Johnstown and Colorado Springs \u2014 boosting the total to 12 in the state.<\/p>\n<p>Cheba Hut Toasted Subs, now based in Fort Collins, plans to open its 25th restaurant in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have several more in the hopper,\u201d Jennings said.<\/p>\n<p>There are plans to open franchises in Atlanta, Austin, Texas, and Riverside, Calif. The company is working with a consultant to carefully choose the right people, said Seth Larsen, the brand\u2019s chief relationship officer. He deals with the contracts, logistics and does a bit of marketing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re getting ready to push nationally,\u201d Larsen said. \u201cWe want to be smart about our growth.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3360771\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter size-article_inline\"><img class=\" lazyautosizes lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/marijuana-themed-cheba-hut-opening-more-sub-joints-in-colorado-across-the-country.jpg\" width=\"2016\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/marijuana-themed-cheba-hut-opening-more-sub-joints-in-colorado-across-the-country.jpg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/marijuana-themed-cheba-hut-opening-more-sub-joints-in-colorado-across-the-country.jpg 620w,https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.denverpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Cheba-Hut-2.jpeg?fit=780%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 780w,https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.denverpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Cheba-Hut-2.jpeg?fit=810%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 810w,https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.denverpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Cheba-Hut-2.jpeg?fit=630%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 630w\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\n<p>Provided by Cheba Hut<\/p>\n<p>The marijuana theme of Cheba Hut was risque when the first shop opened, but with changing societal attitudes, it\u2019s more mainstream now.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Jennings has been \u201cslinging subs now for 21 years\u201d after briefly trying out the corporate world.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBack in the day, the marijuana theme wasn\u2019t so palatable,\u201d Jennings said.<\/p>\n<p>The theme is carried out through the colorful, psychedelic murals to the sandwich names: Thai Stick, or chicken breast with teriyaki glaze; Panama Red, grilled chicken breast topped with marinara sauce; and\u00a0Acapulco Gold, grilled chicken breast with barbecue sauce.<\/p>\n<p>The company\u2019s website says Cheba Hut is \u201ca \u2018Toasted\u2019 sub concept that has been curing munchies since 1998\u201d and boasts having \u201cthe best bread in the business.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jennings said early on, police officers used to stop by to make sure everything was above-board.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was. They started eating there, and they got great food,\u201d Jennings said.<\/p>\n<p>Cheba Hut\u2019s theme, Jennings said, was a bit of a statement. \u201cIt was kind of fun. It was like freedom of speech.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"related right\" \/>\n<p>Twenty-one years later, 33 states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for medical or recreational use, or both.\u00a0And Cheba Hut has developed a kind of cult following, Jennings said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019d like to think that we were part of that movement,\u201d Jennings said of the changing attitudes toward marijuana.<\/p>\n<p>Besides Colorado and Arizona, Cheba Huts are in New Mexico, California, Oregon, Nevada and Wisconsin. Most of the restaurants have full bars<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve been doing the soft casual thing for a while,\u201d Larsen said. \u201cWe want people to come in and spend a little more time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The company did about $30 million in sales last year, Larsen said. There are about 750 employees across all the restaurants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<p>Marijuana-themed Cheba Hut Toasted Subs is opening more stores in Colorado and other states &#8212; and has the goal of doubling its number of shops to 50 by the end of 2021. The company says it&#8217;s making a push to go national. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[155,5062,6811,6957,5452,1689,6813,4995,77,7816,9,5019,8074,8075,1,3,61,1736],"tags":[2733,5063,6816,6960,5458,4257,6818,4996,2655,7818,5022,8076,8077],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8631"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8631\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}