Chubby’s comes to Springville
Though they opened in December, Chubby’s Neighborhood Café is one of the newest restaurants to join the Springville community, and community is a big deal to them. Despite it being printed on the side of every cup, some may not realize that Chubby’s is a local, family-owned chain that started right here in Utah Valley.
Brothers Mike and Tom Moak opened the first location in Pleasant Grove in 2010, and in the last 15 years, it’s grown into a bit of a family dynasty. Now with 10 locations in the state, their footprint reaches from Riverton, to Toole, to Heber, and even all the way down to St. George. While Springville is the most recent, it maintains the central values that have made the rest of the locations successful, and their arrival has been a long time coming.
Alan Moak who co-runs the Payson location recalled one day when a customer raved about the restaurant, and suggested a location in Springville. That customer was Dr. Darren Chamberlain who owns a dental practice in Springville.
“He came into Chubby’s (in Payson) all the time and he would say ‘We gotta get you guys in Springville,’” Alan Moak recalled. “He said, ‘Look, I have the perfect place for you,’ and he laid it all out, and I said, ‘All right, let’s do it. So, once something opened up, we knew it was time.”
The Springville location is co-operated by yet another Moak brother, Joe Moak.
A personal review of Chubby’s in Springville
Recently, I visited Chubby’s in Springville, and I can confirm that the decision to open a location there was wise. Not only did the restaurant quickly fill up at lunchtime, but I thoroughly enjoyed the guacamole burger and side of beer-battered fries, which is the restaurant’s most popular side dish. Simply tasting the food, their dedication to quality ingredients is clear. The burger is made from premium Creekstone Black Angus Beef, which is ground in-house, never frozen and served on a soft, flavorful potato bun that compliments the marriage of flavors.
For dessert, I was served a sampler platter of sweets consisting of two types of scones and a personal-sized serving of chocolate sheet cake, which was made by one of the Moak sisters. Both scones were cooked to perfection, with one dusted in powdered sugar with accompanying honey butter dipping sauce. The other scone was sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. While both were delicious, the cinnamon sugar was a particular favorite, and it was hard to stop eating it even though I was already full. The sheet cake was smooth and moist, with a strong chocolate flavor while not being overly sweet. Stuffed as I was, the sheet cake was more than enough for me to share, but on a different occasion it might be hard for one person not to eat the whole thing themselves.
While I didn’t have the chance to try other menu items, I was told that the Utah cheeseburger was particularly popular. It is a classic burger with American cheese, lettuce, pickles, tomato, and fry sauce. Also next on my must-try list is the Jalapeno Ranch Deluxe.
Aside from burgers and fries, the hush puppies and shrimp po’ boy are also popular items, and they’re only some of the Cajun-inspired dishes on the menu. And it’s no wonder these items are on the menu, because, while Chubby’s started here in Utah, its roots go back to the South, where many members of the Moak family originally hailed from.
Bringing ‘the South’ to Utah
Alan, Joe, and their brothers were all born in Louisiana, and founders Mike and Tom worked some of their first jobs in restaurants in the Pelican State. Even their mother was well-versed in the business and ran her own catering business and a dinner delivery service. She also ran a bowling alley, which featured a food court that gave Tom some of his earliest experience.
“They just always had this love for food and for the restaurant industry,” Joe said about his older brothers, though it’s clearly a love that he also holds dear. Joe’s own journey to Chubby’s brought him cross-country, from Missouri, where he’d been working at a car dealership. He’d grown weary of his occupation and was looking for a change; that’s when his wife contacted Tom and Mike and put the wheels in motion for Joe to get involved with the growing family business. He started the Tooele location and now splits his time between there and the Springville restaurant.
“I like to make Chubby’s feel like home,” he says. “I want you to feel like you can come in for a quick lunch or you could stay, hang out, have business meetings if you want, or just whatever. Hopefully we’ve hit that, because that’s kind of our goal: to make you feel super comfortable.”
