The doors of Coogie’s Beach Cafe, a Malibu institution for the last 25 years, will be closed from May 6 to June 1 while it undergoes a remodel, menu change and name change. Nate Heydari, owner of the eatery since 1997, said, “We’re graduating from mostly a breakfast and lunch cafe to a restaurant. We’re going to have a fresh new breakfast, lunch and dinner menu and a new full-service bar will complement the changes.”
The locals who eat regularly at Coogie’s will need to find temporary alternatives. Barry Haldeman, an attorney who’s been eating breakfast there almost every day since it opened, pondered his options.
“The food at Marmalade is very good, but Coogie’s is like the Cheers’ bar. Everybody knows you — the waiters, etc. — and that’ll be hard to replace,” Haldeman explained.
When asked why he was remodeling again after recently comleting a remodel five years ago, Heydari said, “I had two choices at the end of my lease term: reinvent and remodel or hand it over to the hovering chain restaurants … The rent has hiked up to just below $40,000 a month — a 30% increase in operating costs since Coogie’s first opened.”
General Manager Kaya Ramos explained that only the front of the restaurant is being remodeled, not the kitchen. A full service bar will be added so that patrons “have more options. For example, you’ll be able to order a Bloody Mary with breakfast.” The new ambience will be “more open and airy with more greenery.”
“Coogie’s will maintain its light and open dining room, but will have a different seating arrangement to make better use of the space,” Heydari said. “There will be a full bar to complement our new chef-driven dinner menu, as well as the changes we’ve made to our breakfast and lunch menu.”
The menus are being almost completely revamped, although there will still be old favorites. “It’s all geared to more healthy, organic options, based on feedback we’ve gotten from Malibu locals and what’s going on in other places,” Ramos said. “It’ll be as close to ‘farm-to-table’ as possible; the meat will be organic grass-fed beef.”
Heydari isn’t ready yet to reveal Coogies’ new name.
“I have a new name in mind and would like to hash out the details before I publish it,” he said.
He credits good teamwork with the success of the restaurant and said, “The good people that prepare the food, meet, greet and serve our guests … we’re all aware that the residents of Malibu pay our wages.”
Heydari also listens to his customers. “I encourage our guests to call me on the spot if their experience is not up to par. I take every call seriously and always look for ways to improve.”
In reflecting on the amount of restaurant turnover in Malibu, Heydari said, “There’s a small, full-time resident population in Malibu, and more restaurants operate here each year, with only so much to go around. Many don’t realize the long stretch of highway is almost two separate cities. Rents are skyrocketing, labor is more expensive since most employees are commuting, and there’s higher turnover. Higher costs require higher ticket items and not everyone in Malibu is a billionaire. Who wants to pay $20 for an omelet?”
Ramos agreed that one of the secrets to surviving in Malibu is catering to the locals. “You need the local repeat business over the winter months,” he said. “Anyone can survive over the summer.”
Heydari has a long history with Coogie’s, and so do many of his longtime employees. “I was hired as a server/manager many years ago,” Heydari shared. “I grew up within these walls and everything I have today is because of Coogie’s. A number of my employees have been here since the beginning.”
Some of those long-term employees will get their longest vacation ever this month. Server Luis Loza has been there since 1992, working six days a week. “I think I’ll take a break and relax for two weeks,” he said. “Then, we’ll be coming back early to retrain on new menus and a new computer system.”
Server Tracy Maciardie, a 17-year employee, and busboy Pablo Gonzales, a 10-year employee, weren’t sure what to do during the remodel. “I might take my family to Disneyland,” Gonzales said.
