‘It’s Little Fresno.’ Why are so many Fresno businesses opening locations at the coast?
A mini boom of Fresno businesses is happening at the Central Coast.
A restaurant and several tea places that have roots in the Fresno area are either open or gearing up to open there in the coming weeks and months .
Quesadilla Gorilla is headed for San Luis Obispo’s Creamery Marketplace, a former creamery that’s home to several restaurants at Higuera and Nipomo streets. It’s shooting for a March opening.
Teazer World Tea Market, in addition to its four locations in Fresno and Clovis, opened its downtown San Luis Obispo tea shop last March. It’s at Higuera and Court streets.
Boba shop MilkT Society, which recently opened three locations in Fresno, is working on two locations in the coast region.
In Pismo Beach, MilkT is taking over a former tattoo shop at Highway 1 and Dolliver Street. The owner expects to be open within two months.
The other location, in San Luis Obispo, is still in the planning and permitting stages. If all goes as planned, MilkT will open in about five months in the same shopping center as California Fresh Market, on Foothill Boulevard.
And Dutch Bros Coffee, though not based in Fresno but wildly popular in the city, opened locations in Lompoc, Arroyo Grande and Santa Maria in the last year or so.
Of course, these businesses aren’t the first to open a location closer to the coast.
San Luis, Morro Bay, more
Clovis-based House of JuJu opened a restaurant in 2015 on Morro Bay’s Embarcadero, with views of Morro Rock.
Blast & Brew is a pizza place with self-serve beer taps and locations in San Luis, Orcutt and Paso Robles. It has the same parent company as Me-n-Ed’s pizzerias, which is also based in Fresno.
Even Firestone Grill in San Luis Obispo and Main Street Grill in Cambria are owned by different members of the same family who owns the popular Dog House Grill in Fresno.
Why are restaurants opening at the coast?
So why is this happening?
Simple, says MilkT owner Teresa Choi. Fresnans – and others from the central San Joaquin Valley – love getting away to the Central Coast.
“It’s Little Fresno,” she said.
“It’s the same people coming in. It’s a no-brainer for you go to San Luis Obispo,” she said of businesses that are expanding.
Some restaurant owners have personal connections, like the owners of House of JuJu. They camped in Morro Bay over every Fourth of July with family and church members, said Julie Glenn.
“We have always called it our backyard beach, and it is the Valley’s backyard beach as well,” she said.
House of JuJu is also planning more locations, one on Visalia’s Main Street and another in Orofino, Idaho.
Yes, real estate is more expensive at the coast, noted Miguel Reyes, who owns Quesadilla Gorilla. Their rent in San Luis is probably twice as much as it would be in the Fresno area, he said.
By the way, he pronounces the name of the restaurant Quesa-DILLA Gor-ILLA (pronouncing the Ls in quesadilla). Or, people can say, Quesa-DEE-ya Gore-EE-ya, he says. As long as it rhymes.
The restaurant has locations in Visalia, Fresno, and Three Rivers, with another in the works for Tulare.
For them, expanding at the coast was an easy way to dip their toe in the region and see how the brand did. They started by bringing their food truck to the San Luis Obispo farmers market.
Many of their customers were already familiar with the brand, including people from the Valley who have retired at the coast, he said.
“We pretty much almost sell out every week,” he said. “A lot of people received it well.”
That made the decision to open a brick-and-mortar location easier, he said.
This story was originally published January 20, 2022 at 11:19 AM.
