New Fosters Freeze coming to Salinas
SALINAS>> A family business that began 75 years ago on South Main Street in Salinas, one that stretches across three generations, is expanding from the ground up for the first time in 35 years.
Fosters Freeze, known for its ice cream and mouth-watering burgers since opening its doors in 1946, has been a part of the Abbott family in Salinas for eight decades when Bruce Abbott’s father took the reins of the restaurant.
While the year-long pandemic
has crippled several restauranttype businesses, Abbott and his son, Jared, are in the process of adding another Fosters Freeze location in the North Salinas area.
“I call it a futuristic Jetsons type of Fosters Freeze,” said Bruce Abbott. “It will be a combination of a new-school look with a lot of windows, and an old-school look with a blue roof.”
The Abbotts are no strangers to either building new establishments or refurbishing older buildings, as this will be their sixth Fosters Freeze on the Central Coast.
The family built a location in
Watsonville, renovated their restaurant in Hollister, refurbished the building in Campbell and remodeled their Santa Cruz Fosters Freeze twice.
However, this will be the first Fosters Freeze restaurant that the Abbott family has built from the ground up since 1985 when they went across the street in South Salinas and rebuilt the iconic establishment at its current location.
“We got the final notices this week from the city,” Bruce Abbott said. “We’re ready to pick up the permit. As soon as the financing and a contractor is complete, we expect to break ground in 90 days.”
Forgive the Abbotts if they’re taming their emotions about putting a shovel into the ground. This plan has been in the works for four years.
Delays in the process came even before the pandemic crippled the restaurant industry and economy over the past year.
“This project has been in the works for some time,” said Jared Abbott, whose sister is Olympic silver medalist and arguably the greatest softball pitcher of all time in Monica Abbott.
In fact, the pandemic hasn’t really hurt Fosters Freeze res
taurants on the Central Coast. While there is indoor dining when there isn’t a pandemic, the popular outlet is more known for its drive-thru service.
“We have not suffered as much as other people in this business,” said Jared Abbott, who like his father, got into the business after turning 16, while attending North Salinas High.
The new-look building is set to be constructed on the corner of San Juan Grade Road and Boronda Road, near the Gateway Shopping Center in North Salinas.
While the Abbotts wouldn’t divulge the cost for building their eatery from the ground up, it will exceed the estimated $1.5 million that the McDonald’s location in Seaside cost in 2019.
“We’re not pulling from regular architecture,” Jared Abbott said. “We are building this from scratch. It had to be engineered from scratch.”
Which explains part of
the delays in the plans. The architecture will not look like any of the other 65 Fosters Freeze restaurants around the country.
Windows in the front and side of the building rise to the roof, providing a wideopen feeling for the 65 people that it will seat when restaurants are allowed to have indoor dining.
The roof, with a traditional blue outlining and Fosters Freeze cone logo, will look more like an arena with its curves. In addition, there will be seating for up to 25 people outdoors.
“We’re going with a lot of upgrades and technology,” Bruce Abbott said. “We will have double drivethru lanes. We’re adding order
stations and online ordering.”
Inside, the restaurant will take on a modernistic look, with the chairs having blue trim — a trademark of Fosters Freeze since its inception.
There will be tables that can seat up to four, as well as single-chair stations lined up against the windows. And there will be a giant Fosters Freeze cone mural near the beverage area.
“It’s a big step for Fosters Freeze,” Bruce Abbott said.
It’s a giant step for the Abbotts as well, who have turned Fosters Freeze into one of the more popular fast-food restaurants on the Central Coast.
It’s the first time since
the Abbotts rebuilt the Fosters Freeze across the street from Salinas High in 1985 — before Jared was born — that they have broken ground on a new restaurant.
“We’re extremely excited about it,” Bruce Abbott said. “I’m just as excited as 1985. But we’re scared at the same time. We’re taking a huge risk. On the other hand, we believe it will more than pay off.”
Support from the Fosters Freeze corporation in expanding the chain made the decision a little easier for the Abbotts, who are making a huge investment in adding another restaurant to their chain.
The hope is the new Fosters Freeze will be completed by October. Realistically, Jared Abbott believes November is a better date.
“Normally you want to open a restaurant in the fourth quarter of the year,” Jared Abbott said. “That is usually a slower time. It gives us a chance to iron out the kinks and get prepared when things pick up.”