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Chubby's Enjoys Silver Success

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By MICHAEL H. SAMUELS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 22, 2007

Updated: 12/20/2007 06:22 pm

BALLAST POINT - Twenty-five years ago, an auto salesman and a registered nurse from a Boston suburb moved to Tampa and planned to open a restaurant.

The nurse was an amateur chef; the salesman a "grill man." Neither had restaurant experience.

They bought all their equipment - ovens, ice machines and the like - used from auctions and brought it all down south with them.

George and Zan Fuller are still running Chubby's Super Subs and Pizza, 5023 S. Bayshore Blvd., which celebrates its silver anniversary today.

"Every day is a different day," said George Fuller, 58. "As long as my health remains good and the business is still doing OK, I'm going to be here."

When the Fullers bought the property in the mid-1970s, they weren't sure what to do with it. They rented it out for a few years before moving to Tampa after the economy turned sour and George Fuller lost his job selling cars.

"We thought we would open it up and maybe turnkey it and let someone else run it," he said. "But then we started to have children and after our third child, we decided it was not a good idea to make any major career moves.

"We really didn't have a plan," he said. "It seemed like a good investment."

They fashioned their restaurant after some of their favorites in New England that served old-fashioned meals.

The menu hasn't changed much since the beginning, Zan Fuller said. Some items have come and gone, but the basics, such as their specialty, the steak bomb - a cheese steak with sauteed onions and mushrooms, green peppers, white American cheese and a slice of Genoa salami - remain the same.

They get produce from a farmers market on Hillsborough Avenue. All sauces are made from scratch, Zan Fuller said.

"We learned a lot from trial and error," George Fuller said. "And we learned from our great employees."

Such as manager Philip Webb, who began at Chubby's 18 years ago making pizzas.

"I'm a working manager," he said. "I do pizzas, dinners, the grill, cold subs, prep work, everything.

"I like working the mom-and-pop restaurants," he said. "I have a little bit more independence to do what I want to do. And he's taken care of me. To actually go somewhere and start over has not even entered my mind."

The Fullers' three children have worked at the restaurant, although none plans to take over the family business. Julie, 23, is a Broward County teacher; Robert, 21, is studying journalism at the University of Florida; and Neil, 19, is a University of South Florida student.

The name Chubby's came from a nickname given to the young George Fuller by a cousin. The clown decor is a shout-out to a restaurant the couple enjoyed going to back home, Sapino's, owned by a former circus clown.

"The logo was drawn by a 10-year-old boy," Zan Fuller said. "He drew the bald head just like George's and added a chef's hat."

Among their loyal customers are a retired military couple who visit at least once a week after shopping at the MacDill Air Force Base Exchange. A picture of the couple hangs on the wall over their regular table, Zan Fuller said.

"This is their lunch spot," she said.

"A special little place, Chubby's is," George Fuller said. "I like to think a lot of other people think so, too."

Reporter Michael H. Samuels can be reached at (813) 835-2109 or msamuels@tampatrib.com.

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