GREELEY — Cheba Hut owner Scott Jennings enjoys serving tasty, toasty sandwiches with a side order of pot humor.
But it was all lost on a Greeley municipal judge who this month denied Jennings’ request for a liquor license for his establishment.
Judge Robert Frick, Greeley’s lone liquor-license authority, ruled that serving booze at the Cheba Hut would not fit in well with the neighborhood adjacent to the University of Northern Colorado campus.
Jennings, who was asked by Frick at the licensing hearing whether he is a frequent pot smoker, has since “lawyered up” and is asking a District Court judge to overturn Frick’s ruling.
“It was a completely bogus decision,” said Jennings, who started the Cheba Hut franchise 11 years ago near the Arizona State University campus.
He named his restaurant after a slang term for marijuana as marketing ploy but said nothing illegal is sold at the Cheba Hut — just delicious subs, he said.
There are two Cheba Huts in Fort Collins and another in Boulder and there have been no problems with either one, according to police.
There was little opposition to the Greeley store getting a liquor license, and even Assistant City Attorney Gordon Green said that despite the playful marijuana theme, “it seems like a sandwich shop with very good food,” according to court documents.
But Frick objected to the overall tone of the restaurant, especially given its proximity to UNC.
“This restaurant is founded upon the principals and theme of the illegal drug marijuana and incorporates other illegal controlled-substance-related themes,” Frick said in his ruling.
Frick could not be reached for comment.
Cheba Hut’s logo is: “Welcome to Cheba Hut. The Only Thing Fried is the Occasional Customer.”
The restaurant has 25 sandwiches, all of which carry names that play on drug use, including: “Magic Mushroom,” “Thai Stick,” “Herb,” “Blunt” and “420.”
“When you are going against the chain outfits that sell $5 subs, you have to use something different to get people inside,” Jennings said.
He told Frick that he is not a user of marijuana. Jennings’ attorney, Maria Liu, said Frick’s ruling was arbitrary and a violation of her client’s First Amendment rights to free speech.
“Fortunately in the United States, Colorado and even Greeley,” Liu said, “reading a menu that names its sandwiches after marijuana strains and verbalizing the request to the clerk behind the counter for a specific marijuana-themed sandwich is not illegal.”
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com
