Short Leash Hot Dogs’ Central Avenue location was short-lived. The three-month-old kitchen closed in February, leaving young concert venue Valley Bar without a kitchen.
“It was all the unfortunate construction costs,” Short Leash co-owner Brad Moore said. “The building is 120 years old and we need to redo the kitchen. The costs of renovations were just too expensive to stay.”
Short Leash rented its third storefront from Valley Bar and decided to collaborate. The Moores fixed up the walls, floors, and more at their 130 N. Central Ave. location, but there were some improvements that were too large to take on, like the kitchen’s hood system.
“The hood system is the most important and expensive thing in a restaurant,” Moore said. “That was part of the additional costs.”
A restaurant exhaust hood is normally required in every commercial kitchen. The metal contraption reduces fires, reduces dangerous particle emissions and keeps insurance costs lower. A typical exhaust hood can costs anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000 dollars.
“A restaurant that’s doing really well will have a 10 percent net profit, and average restaurants normally have a 6 percent net profit,” Moore said. “When you start to extrapolate the number and think mathematically, it’s not the popularity of the place… it’s just sometimes not feasible with the initial startup costs.”
Short Leash at the Biltmore was forced out of its original kitchen and into a different one nearby. Moore said the Biltmore paid for the relocation costs, and moved his restaurant into a brand new, faultless kitchen without any of his own investments.
Valley Bar manager Angela Donato said the partnership was excellent, but not a wise business proceeding for either party.
“We didn’t have food, then we had Short Leash, and now we’re renovating and will have our own food by the end of the week.”
The costly exhaust hood was too much for the small hot dog chain to afford, but Valley Bar chose to do the renewals itself and begin its own internal kitchen by the first weekend in March.
“Well, it’ll be our profit now. It’s a pretty large project so it didn’t make sense for us to do that for another company,” Donato said. “The other location is really close so it wasn’t really worth it for them to fix the things that needed to be fixed.”
Donato believes Short Leash’s absence will not affect Valley Bar’s crowds and said she didn’t see much fluctuation when the kitchen was there.
“It would be cool to eat a veggie dog while at a show, but at the end of the day, they’re just hot dogs and people will still see the show,” Phoenix resident Brynt Carson said.
Short Leash had launched a dinner menu for Valley Bar visitors that included more sophisticated plates, an emphasis on “shareables,” and new signature hot dogs.
“We’re going to be selling some of those dinner items at our Roosevelt location,” Moore said. “The grilled cheese, the meatball sandwich, and the Valley Cristo will be up for sale.”
According to Donato, Valley Bar will be selling salads and flatbread, with more to come. Although the new concert venue and the old hot dog chain couldn’t work in tandem, both businesses have big plans for growth in the future.
“We had a great relationship with Valley Bar and it was a great location,” Moore said. “It was just business.”
Contact the reporter at kara.curtin@asu.edu
