FREEDOM OF SPEECH

QUEEN CREEK COUPLE BLAZE DIFFERENT TRAIL FOR RETIREMENT

By Sarah J. Boggan | East Valley Tribune
Published: January 26, 2008

It wasn’t the munchies that got a Queen Creek-area couple to buy franchise rights to future Cheba Hut locations. Kathy and Dorian Lenz said they wanted a fun, laid-back retirement plan.

The Lenzes own the Mesa location of Cheba Hut at 1710 W. Southern Ave. and will open another location of the marijuana-themed sandwich shop in Glendale in the next couple of weeks.

“Our kids were leaving the crib and we were looking for something to do,” Kathy Lenz said. “We weren’t quite sure what our retirement was going to look like.”

Kathy Lenz was a full-time mom and Dorian Lenz is still a full-time psychiatric nurse in addition to his duties at Cheba Hut.

The couple bought the Tucson location in 2004 but then sold it and bought the Mesa location in 2006.

“We loved the food, the atmosphere and the kids that work here,” Dorian Lenz said. “We like everything about it — it’s very relaxed.”

Kathy Lenz said she also liked the “hippiness” of it.

“It reminded me of my teenage years,” she said. “We came up through that era.”

Kathy Lenz said the laid-back atmosphere also applies to the staff of about 15 people at their Mesa location.

“They don’t have to take out their earrings, they can show their tattoos, they can be themselves,” she said.

The restaurant offers a variety of sandwiches in three sizes — the nug, the pinner and the blunt. They also have soups and salads along with “munchies” such as Rice Krispie treats and brownies.

And if a customer doesn’t see something tempting on the menu, employees say there is definitely a submenu and they can offer suggestions.

“We make it their way,” Kathy Lenz said of the sandwiches that are all made with ingredients prepared fresh and in-house.

The Lenzes said a majority of their friends and family are “cool” with them owning a marijuana-themed restaurant, and they are looking forward to expanding their operations in Arizona. The first new store will be at 59th and Olive avenues near Glendale Community College.

The Lenzes are also making plans to open restaurants in Scottsdale and Flagstaff. Though purposely situated near “liberal college campuses,” Cheba Hut gets a variety of customers, said Matt Trethewey, director of franchise development for Cheba Hut.

“They have quite the following,” Trethewey said. “They get EMTs, firefighters, college students, there’s even a blue-collar draw.”

Pictures of customers are pasted up along the sandwich counter among bumper stickers with slogans such as “Friends don’t let friends eat schwag.”

Dorian Lenz proudly pointed out their regular customers.

“We specialize in free spirits here,” Kathy Lenz said.