Three guys who have never worked in the c-store industry wanted to bring something unique to south Louisiana: a drive-thru store.

It’s a simple system. “You enter the store via the drive-thru line. A waitress takes your order and enters it into the mobile POS system. The customer pays and drives off with their order,” explained Blake Belaire, co-owner of Yabbos drive-thru convenience store. 

Blake Belaire, an engineer and contractor by trade, ran across the design in Dallas, Texas. “They have liquor barns. I thought it would be a good concept to have a c-store with drive-thru daiquiris and food.” His partner Keefe Duhon saw something similar in Ohio. They started kicking around ideas with local entrepreneur Lee Venable. 

They found the perfect location down the road from the Broussard Sports Complex. “There are events there 48 out of 52 weekends a year at the complex,” said Belaire. In February 2022, Yabbos opened its doors.

SECOND TO NONE

Louisiana is known for food packed with spices, rich flavor and some “kick” —as well as a long history of beloved family recipes. Belaire, Duhon and Venable knew they had to hit the ground running with menu items that were second to none. Fortunately, they had a few foodies in the house. General Manager Adam Brewer, head cook Sarah Johnson and co-owners Duhon and Venable knew how to take food over the top. 

First, they decided on a different plate lunch each day, with that same item on the menu each week. Customers can plan their week around Cajun favorites such as meatball stew, jambalaya and shrimp stew. And with chicken giant Raising Canes Chicken Fingers a stone’s throw away, the Yabbos team realized size, preparation and sauce would be key to winning the tenders’ battle. Large tenders and “Max’s Secret Dip Sauce” help to dwarf the competition. “Our tenders are generous, and our dip is much better,” said Belaire. 

Yabbos’ original burger is also popular with customers. Brewer said, “It’s 100% homemade 8-ounce patty,” and he explained that the unique seasoning profile sets it apart. “You’re not gonna taste another burger like this in the area,” he said. You can sense the pride in Brewer’s description of the burger—after all, it’s his recipe. 

In fact, everything on the menu was created by the Yabbos team, right down to the boiled crawfish, which are huge and spicy. “We use our Yabbos original seasoning in the water to boil them and post boil. If you want to eat really good crawfish that are big, you come here,” said Brewer.

DRIVE-THRU DAIQUIRIS

There’s also a drive-thru daiquiri window on one side of the building, as well as a full bar. “In Louisiana, to have a drive-thru daiquiri window, you have to have a certain amount of square footage to seat people. During the planning process we decided to use it as a full bar,” explained Belaire, adding, “most of the traffic is on the c-store side.” 

[img caption] What’s in a Name? 

People might ask, “Is Yabbo a person?” Owner Blake Belaire shared that Yabbos comes from the movie “Hocus Pocus.” The owners were trying to settle on a name, and Duhon’s daughter was watching the movie. “The word ‘Yabbos’ came up in the movie, and we decided on that. We thought Yabbos was original, unique and catchy,” he explained. 

With temperatures in this part of the country reaching 90 degrees before June, customers are rolling in for the drive-thru daiquiris. “On the weekend we could sell 75 to 100 daiquiris a day at the drive-thru. We have a few specialty daiquiris that we blend. The most popular are the Yabbos Fuel and Cajun Cloud. Yabbos Fuel has our strongest alcohol content,” explained Brewer. 

SOCIAL MEDIA

Yabbos regularly posts its menus on Facebook, but a visit from a local TikTok influencer sent sales through the roof in one week. “A local foodie did a TikTok video going through the drive-thru line ... She filmed herself eating the crawfish. Because of her, we had people who lived five minutes away, who’d never heard of us, come in. We were not prepared for it. That wasn’t expected in our business trajectory. It didn’t stop for three or four days straight,” said Brewer. 

Belaire offered some perspective. “It opens your eyes to influencers. It was shared 35,000 times. If you would’ve told me that TikTok could have done that I would’ve laughed at you. We doubled sales overnight—especially crawfish, we sold 360 pounds of crawfish in one night.” 

There’s still a few hurdles for Yabbos to overcome. “People don’t want to come here to eat because it’s a convenience store,” said Belaire. Once they come, however, it’s easy to change their mind.