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By NOAH WORTHAM | Staff Writer

ALABASTER – Chubbfathers is ready to continue its mission to “Feed the People” with a new location that is now open and serving Alabaster residents.

Chubbfathers has moved to a new location at 229 Kent Stone Boulevard in Alabaster near Alabaster Water and Glitz & Gowns. The business opened the doors at its new spot at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 8.

“It’s the first time in my 30 years in the restaurant business that I had a building built to my specifications,” said Will Cholewinski, who owns and runs the restaurant with his wife Stephanie.

The new location features improvements to the kitchen space as well as a new visual look to the dining area that features a neon sign of the business’s logo. Will shared that they also plan on expanding the building with the addition of  a large patio on the back of the business that will serve 40 to 50 people.

“(The new building) is just going to give us the ability to produce a lot more food,” Will said. “We’ve really got the systems down to be able to do it quicker than we’ve ever done but still do it when you order it and not before.”

Despite featuring a new locale, Chubbfathers is still entirely focused on its mission of serving what Will calls “all manners of fat boy food.”

“Listen, if I’m your cheat day, cool man,” Will said. “At the end of the day, people still come see us because of who are we are—the food, the service—But we’re going to make sure that you get what you paid for. You are not going to leave hungry. If you did, I didn’t do my job.”

The new location of Chubbfathers was an important move for the business after spending the last six years at the previous location at 1207 1st Street North in Alabaster.

“I’m just ready for the ride to continue,” Stephanie said.

With the relocation to the new building complete, Will shared that he still has plans for the old venue.

“I’m hoping within the next 60 to 90 days that we’re going to put a restaurant back in there that we’re going to call The Grub Station by Chubbfathers,” he said. “It’s going to be a nice little lunch spot diner—a little mixture of everything.”

The transition to a new building for Chubbfathers was a difficult process yet overdue process that owners Will and Stephanie had long planned for.

“It really came down to we’re here when God said that we were supposed to be here and we’re ready,” Will said. “That was extremely difficult. That was probably the hardest part of all of this—working with His timeframe.”

The most difficult part of the waiting process came during final inspections which all coincided on the same fateful day.

“It was more nerve wracking for one hour yesterday than the three days leading up to Kay Ivey shutting down the dining rooms for COVID-19,” Will said.

For Will, the long wait for the new location came down to faith and it paid off.

“That’s the beautiful thing about faith man,” Will said. “Faith is the absence of proof. Every day that I had an opportunity to wake up and be sunny side up with one foot in the front of the other—it was proof that His plan was working and that we were going to be fine.”

Now ready and open to serve, the new Chubbfathers features an updated look that still contains its family-centered business model.

“We’re still just a mom and pop spot at heart,” Will said. “Our mom and pop spot has turned into a brand and the people who come and trust us with their money on a day in and day out basis deserve a better experience than what I had the ability to give them there (at the previous location).”

That family-centered atmosphere means more than a service model for Will and Stephanie as it has also involved their children for the past several years.

“Our kids were little, little when we were in the initial location by Hallmark and Crunch Fitness,” Cholewinski said. “They’ve really grown up a lot in between those walls.”

Will and Stephanie not only had the honor of seeing their kids grow in stature and wisdom but also in service to the family business.

“The kids have gone from only being able to do sauces at the restaurant and dropping fries (to) now the kids, when they’re in the kitchen, they run the grill and my girls run the register up front,” Stephanie said.

Now, after serving the Alabaster food community for more than 20 years, Will continues his mission to “feed the people.” as the city’s resident Chubbfather—a name that continues to grow each and every day for the family man and food service boss who first began his community efforts at Full Moon BBQ in the Alabaster promenade.

“While I was at Full Moon (BBQ), I’d already started developing a reputation for having a servant’s heart and a pastor came over and was like ‘You’re kind of like the closest thing to a godfather this town has ever had, so I guess that makes you the Chubbfather,’” Will said. “I laughed and I said, ‘Well I guess that makes you guys the cheeseburger mafia.’ And the whole things just kind of grew from there.”

In explaining what Chubbfathers is all about, Will said there are three pillars to the business’s mission statement.

“I am here to be my brother’s keeper, to love everybody and to feed the people,” he said.