FREEDOM OF SPEECH

STONERS AND SOBERS ALIKE CRAVE
CHEBA HUT ON 4:20

By Kyle Anderson | NAZ today
Published: April 20, 2009

Got the munchies? Cheba Hut Toasted Subs opened its tenth location in Flagstaff today, and the local college community seemed to embrace it.

The marijuana themed sub shop on Milton Road held its "4:20 Grand Opening" celebration, named after the famous counterculture number, by offering a small sandwich, chips and a drink for $4.20, tapping a unique market: drug culture.

"We're really about the counterculture and freedom of speech," said Matt Trethewey, Chief Operating Officer of Cheba Hut. "It's more about the first amendment than anything else."

Cheba Hut's Flagstaff location, decorated with Bob Marley posters, pro-marijuana legalization literature and stoner stickers depicting bongs and marijuana leaves, is owned and operated by four people who have a passion for making good food.

"We love it," said co-owner Matthew Newton, comparing the establishment to a 1950s themed diner.

"My dad would go to the 50s restaurant and listen to the same music he grew up with - the food, the style, everything - and it would just send him back."

Newton sees Cheba Hut as carrying the same nostalgia for the hippie generation.

The Flagstaff location was financially difficult to start for the team, however. A rough economy led to a depletion of funds toward the end of the nine months before opening.

"Everything just kind of went downhill as we were coming up, and the money got tight at the end," said Newton. "The economy definitely didn't help us."

Despite initial setbacks, the owners are confident in making a profit. The line to order a sandwich extended outside of the building during lunchtime today.

"In a good economy or a bad economy, Cheba Hut can go into a market like this and dominate," said Trethewey, citing Flagstaff's "liberal, free-thinking" aura, conductive of Cheba Hut's core customer's values, as the main reason for opening a shop here.

"Obviously we've got a great marketing hook with the green leafy substance we have on our menu, but that's just part of the counter-culture and its our first amendment right of freedom of expression and freedom of speech," said Trethewey.

Such a marketing hook could be seen as controversial, as marijuana has been a hot-button issue since the beginning of the War on Drugs in the late 1960s.

"I am surprised that it hasn't been as controversial," said Newton.

No neighboring businesses have complained about the theme of the restaurant, and response has been nothing but positive according to Lisa McTheny, co-owner of the Flagstaff Cheba Hut location.

"We've had a line ever since we opened [today]," said McTheny. "The food is great and the people are awesome. It's like a community."

The toasted sandwiches and stoner themes are intentionally marketed to the college demographic as well, which makes Flagstaff and NAU a prime marketing target, and the response on opening day is reflective of that.

Several customers claimed to have been smoking marijuana before arriving to purchase their sandwich of choice.

"It's bomb," said an anonymous NAU student who had recently smoked. "That's the way to make the food taste better."

The "4:20 Grand Opening" includes live music starting at, you guessed it, 4:20 in the afternoon.

There are now ten Cheba Hut locations in Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico. The first location was opened in 1998 near the Arizona State University's campus in Tempe.