:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70888723/CubanosATL_146.0.jpg)
What started out as a small Cuban sandwich shop based out of a self-constructed tiny house in Sandy Springs two years ago, has now expanded to two other metro Atlanta locations, with a fourth location opening at the end of May in Marietta.
Cubanos ATL owner Ozzy Llanes plans to begin serving his popular Cuban sandwiches from Belen De La Cruz Empanadas and Pastries, starting May 25. Both Llanes and Argentinean empanada and pastry shop owner Belen De La Cruz have stalls at Chattahoochee Food Works in Atlanta. The duo first met in 2020 while opening their respective first locations, developing a friendship after opening stalls at the Underwood Hills food hall.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23575156/image.png)
“Earlier this year, I began looking for a retail restaurant space in the Marietta area and quickly learned that retail vacancy in metro Atlanta has become limited and rents are expensive,” Llanes says in the press release, adding that high labor and food costs caused him to “get creative” for his next location.
Llanes and De La Cruz will share operating expenses and kitchen and counter space at the Marietta shop to help keep costs manageable. “It’s a win-win business model for both brands,” De La Cruz says. “We plan to use this partnership as a pilot with potential growth together in the future.”
De la Cruz first opened her eponymous empanada shop in Johns Creek in 2020. She opened the Marietta location a year later, quickly followed by the food stall at Chattahoochee Food Works.
Llanes opened the original Cubanos ATL in Sandy Springs during the summer of 2020, which resides in a tiny house he designed and constructed in the parking lot of a small retail plaza on Roswell Road. Last spring, Llanes opened his second location at Cumming Marketplace in Cumming, Georgia, later opening the food stall at Chattahoochee Food Works that summer.
A Roswell location of Cubanos ATL was previously in the works behind former live music venue Gypsy Rose on Alpharetta Street. Llane says that location is no longer planned.
Open Monday - Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.
1050 East Piedmont Road, Marietta. cubanosatl.com.
