Straw Hat makes comeback in Y-S

If you've seen some new Straw Hat Pizza restaurants sprouting up in the Mid-Valley, after years of thinking the chain was extinct, and figured Straw Hat was making a comeback, you'd be right.

In the early and mid-1970s, Straw Hat reigned supreme in Yuba-Sutter and California in general. Shakey's was heading over the hill. Pizza Hut and Round Table had yet to arrive in the area. Domino's was a table game. Chuck E. Cheese never arrived. Little Caesars, Papa John's, Papa Murphy's and Mountain Mike's weren't even on the horizon.

In those simpler times when families ate together both at home and at restaurants, the Straw Hat on Colusa Avenue in Yuba City was packed with families, most of them content with watching a video horseshoes game on the wall. Straw Hat's own Web site recalls the "hard bench seating, bright red carpets and flocked wallpaper." It took an hour to get your pizza, but no one seemed to mind — that was just part of the experience of eating at Straw Hat.

The Yuba City Straw Hat was indeed a high-volume store, consistently ranking in the top 5 in the chain, according to Allen Strege, vice president of field operations for Straw Hat Restaurants Inc.

That pizza parlor is still there on Colusa Avenue, albeit replaced by a Pizza Hut — and therein lies the story of Straw Hat's fall from grace before its current renaissance. (There was also a Straw Hat in Marysville, which likewise turned into a Pizza Hut, a space now occupied by the Wonderful Chinese Restaurant.)

The first Straw Hat opened in the Bay Area suburb of San Leandro in 1959, with franchising beginning in 1969. Straw Hat at its height had more than 400 restaurants. In 1987, Pizza Hut, looking to make inroads on the West Coast, bought up Straw Hat and converted all the company-owned Straw Hat eateries into its own restaurants. However, some Straw Hat franchise owners refused to go along with the conversion and won the rights to carry on the Straw Hat brand by forming a co-op, an extremely rare setup among restaurants, according to Strege.

The number of Straw Hat restaurants had dwindled to 45 stores by 2006.

That's when Donna and Cole English bought into Straw Hat. The Colusa County couple opened a Straw Hat restaurant in Williams in July 2006 and another at the southern edge of Yuba City, on Bogue Road at Garden Highway, in January this year.

Straw Hat's familiar green-red-and-yellow triangle logo — an abstract pizza slice — was back in the Mid-Valley after a 20-year absence.

A recent sampling of the pizza found the Straw Hat recipe intact as well.

Despite the Yuba City store's little-known location, Donna English said, "It's doing good. We're in a recession, so it probably wasn't expected, but people still spend $20 on a pizza to feed their family."

Donna, 47, serves as manager of the Yuba City restaurant, which has 15 employees.

The Williams Straw Hat, with 10 workers, is managed by Ryan Soto, who has been with the Williams outlet since it opened.

Asked how business is, Soto said, "Good. It's nice and steady. It gets busy at times, mainly around 6 o'clock in the evening and at lunch. Weekends are even busier."

He estimated that 70 percent of the clientele is local and 30 percent is from Interstate 5 traffic. The eatery is situated at an interchange 200 yards from the freeway.

Cole English doesn't take part in the day-to-day operations of the restaurants, although he regularly takes his lunch or breakfast at the Williams location.

The 55-year-old Williams native runs three businesses: a crane and heavy-equipment operation, where he works with a son, David, 23; a steel company; and heavy-equipment rental, all in Williams.

How did the Englishes get involved in the pizza business?

"We had no food service background," Donna explained. "Our boys said we should do a franchise. My husband thought that would be a good thing in retirement because the work would be easier than what he's doing now."

Donna said their accountant suggested a pizza franchise because he handled several such franchises and they were profitable.

"We chose Straw Hat for their product and their name," said Donna. "It has a good reputation."

In the 1970s, during his high school days, Cole would make runs to the Straw Hat in Yuba City and bring pizzas all the way back to Williams. It was those experiences as much as anything that made him opt for a Straw Hat franchise.

"Straw Hat was such a favorite here in the '70s," he said.

According to Donna, start-up costs were $400,000 for each location, with a franchise fee (actually a co-op fee at the time) of $25,000, which has since increased to $35,000.

"(Straw Hat) invested a lot of time with us," said Donna, who is a graduate of Marysville High School and holds an associate degree from Yuba College. She was assigned to work at a Straw Hat in Vallejo 10 to 12 hours a day, six days week, for a month of unpaid training.

The Straw Hat corporate headquarters in San Ramon also provides marketing design work.

Donna described the Straw Hat network as "like a family."

"Family" seems to be a recurring theme in the Englishes' Straw Hat operation.

Donna said that her husband had "the vision, the ability to design" their two restaurants. Their oldest son, Mike, 24, along with Cole and David, also provided construction skills and muscle in building the interiors of the restaurants.

When asked how he liked working for the Englishes, Soto, the manager in Williams, replied, "It's great. The Englishes are the best people I've ever met. They're like family to me."

The 27-year-old Woodland native who moved to Williams eight years ago because he liked the area, added: "They're the best bosses I could have."

The English daughters, Christina, 19, and Georgia, 12, also help out at the restaurants, as well as Donna's sister, Laura Peasley, mother and nieces and nephews.

I think it's a good business," said Donna. "I try and promote my employees to advance, somebody to man another store and make them a partner."

The Englishes are currently looking to open a Straw Hat in Marysville. They also have franchise rights in Woodland and in north Yuba City.

Cole was not too worried about opening another store in a recession, explaining that it was more of a mixed bag because "you can get stuff (commercial space, building materials, equipment, etc.) cheaper, but there wouldn't be as much business."

He also wasn't bothered by the heavy competition, saying, "Straw Hat is a real recognizable brand. It was such a hit here."

Those expansion plans dovetail with the corporate leadership's plans for growth.

"We've recently become licensed to franchise," said Strege, vice president of field operations, explaining that franchising will allow the chain to grow faster than via the cooperative. He said the co-op was officially shut down in September.

There are now 60 Straw Hat restaurants, according to Strege, and the chain is in comeback mode. Donna English said the corporate goal is to have 100 outlets within the next couple years.

The pre-retrenchment Straw Hat chain spread out from the West Coast and covered as far as the Midwest. The revitalized Straw Hat has restaurants in California, Oregon and Nevada, with one in Arkansas opening in a few weeks.

Strege said they plan to go nationwide.

All that probably doesn't matter to Victor Pendleton, a regular customer who lives near the Straw Hat on Bogue Road.

"I've been here since before they opened (his son laid carpet in the eatery). This is the hardest-working family in the Yuba-Sutter area. The family is amazing. They all pitch in together, help each other out, and they all get along," the salt-of-the-earth Pendleton said of the Englishes.

"And the food here is just excellent and so is the service," he said.

At Straw Hat in the Mid-Valley, what makes it good is all in the family.

Contact Appeal reporter Mike Hatamiya at 741-2400 or mhata miya@appealdemocrat.com

Yuba City

• LOCATION: 540 Bogue Road (at Garden Highway)

• HOURS: Sunday to Thursday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

• DELIVERY: Available for $3

• PHONE: 671-5150

• WEB SITE: strawhatpizza.com

Williams

• LOCATION: 295 E Street

• HOURS: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily

• DELIVERY: Available for $3

• PHONE: 473-5150

• WEB SITE: strawhatpizza.com