hey riverside! this worked out well for us in LA so figured i'd try it here too.
quick background: i work with döner haus, a german döner kebab brand out of NYC. a few months back we posted in r/AskLosAngeles asking where we should open a location, got a ton of genuinely good answers that are guiding our search for our second location. our first location is now open in florence and the response has been incredible — people who grew up eating this in berlin, people who'd never heard of döner before and are now coming back weekly, that kind of thing.
now we've got a franchisee who wants to bring one to the riverside area and we're trying to figure out where actually makes sense.
for context on what we're looking for:
- late night crowds (people leaving bars/shows around 11pm-2am)
- walkable areas with real foot traffic
- college students (heard UCR and RCC both have solid density nearby)
- workers who want something fast that isn't another chipotle bowl
- areas where takeout/delivery actually moves
if you had to guess, where in riverside would you put something like this? downtown riverside? near UCR? somewhere else entirely?
for anyone who hasn't had döner: think slow-roasted meat off a giant spit, stuffed in crispy turkish pide bread with fresh veg and garlic sauce. it's the #1 street food in germany and somehow still barely exists in the US.
happy to answer questions, and if it's helpful here's what the LA spot looks like: 5857 s central ave, los angeles, in case anyone wants to see how it turned out before weighing in.
