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529 2ND ST, OLD TOWN EUREKA • (707) 268-8268

22 YEARS AT THE SAME LOCATION 22 YEARS SAME LOCATION Piling it on at Bob’s Footlong.

Photo by Jennifer Fumiko Cahill

food and the atmosphere remain the same.

When the pandemic and shelter in place hit Humboldt, Tanya says Bob’s only closed for a couple weeks before shifting to curbside pickup and delivery. While regulars still came by, it was slow going. A pair of Payroll Protection Plan loans kept the business afloat and the dozen or so mostly part-time employees paid. But that ended two months ago. “It’s been downhill from there,” says Tanya.

More customers drift in, ordering through Plexiglas barriers at the counter while Tanya’s daughter works the fryer and coworker Teresa Diaz blends a milkshake at the whirring machine on the opposite end of the open kitchen.

Before Bob’s, Tanya, who’d done hair for a while and is looking forward to a data entry job she already has lined up, had never worked in food service. Hiring and managing employees — and finding replacements or covering their shifts herself at the last minute — has been hard, she says. Since losing her manager, Tanya says she’s been on duty full time and, after taxes and other overhead, it just isn’t worth it.

“The restaurant business is tough. People are cranky,” Tanya says, and not everyone understands cooking burgers and fries to order takes longer than slipping a pre-made Happy Meal into a bag. With giggle, she adds, “They think we’re fast food and they’re huffin’ and stompin’ their feet.”

Still, Tanya is confident someone with more experience and a passion for the business could do well with Bob’s Footlong, given its storied history and following. She points out that a new owner could easily convert the space into another kind of restaurant, though she’d miss the soft serve milkshakes. The business and all its attending equipment are on the market for $170,000. “I don’t know about the chili recipe, though,” says Tanya. “That was Karen’s.”

Since posting the impending closure on Facebook on Nov. 9, the staff has been slammed with customers scrambling for one last order, a financial boost that will help with mounting expenses. Another laugh bubbles up as she asks, “Where were these people?”

Asked if she’ll miss anything about owning the restaurant, she smiles and answers, “Sorry, no,” before quickly amending that she’ll miss the young people who work there alongside her and her daughter. “They’re always happy,” she says, glancing at Cheyenne and Diaz behind the counter. “They’ve got great energy — they’re laughing.”

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Jennifer Fumiko Cahill (she/her) is the arts and features editor at the Journal. Reach her at 442-1400, extension 320, or jennifer@northcoastjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @JFumikoCahill.