In March, President Barack Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to visit Cuba since Calvin Coolidge in 1928. Rumors were flying about whether the longstanding embargo between the two countries was being lifted, and Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro fielded questions on the topic from eager journalists. Little did the team at Flying Saucer realize that these events would directly affect them.
But they did.
Last month, Flying Saucer owner Shannon Wynne and partner, Keith Schlabs were invited by Starwood Hotels to visit Cuba under a veil of mystery. “They’d heard all about Keith’s fishing escapades in Belize and insisted that we try the fishing in Cuba,” says Wynne. “They didn’t have to ask me twice.”
Schlabs was similarly enthusiastic about the surprise trip. “I’m a big fisherman, and I love to tell people about the time I had to drink warm Belikin after a long day in the sun,” he says. “I just figured this was some sort of special fishing expedition in virgin waters. And of course, I was hoping there’d be beer.”
When the two arrived, they learned it was a much bigger opportunity than either had anticipated. After a quick drive from the Havana airport, the two were escorted to the Hotel Inglaterra. It was here that Starwood Hotel execs offered them the opportunity to install Flying Saucer Cuba inside the hotel’s historic lobby.
This would officially make Flying Saucer the first U.S. bar/restaurant to set up shop on Cuban soil.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Schlabs says. “Here we are thinking it’s just another fishing trip and next thing we know we’re making history.”
What was even more unbelievable was the reason Flying Saucer was tapped for the gig.
Rewind to the spring of 2007, when a Cuban graduate student was granted admission to the University of Texas at Dallas. His name was Guillermo Chavez, a 23-year-old graduate student with a passion not only for his studies but also for American culture. Chavez enjoyed exploring Dallas and quickly fell in love with craft beer and all that the North Texas craft scene had to offer.
It was when Chavez discovered Flying Saucer’s Addison location that he truly found his home away from home. Chavez became a regular at the bar, studying there, encouraging fellow students to join him for beer-fueled study sessions and befriending several members of the staff. In 2010, Chavez received his MBA and returned home to Havana.
Fast forward a few years and Chavez was working as the general manager of the Hotel Inglaterra. When the discussion of potentially inviting a U.S. company to open up shop in the lobby, Chavez knew just the one.
Construction on Flying Saucer Cuba is scheduled to begin in fall of 2016. For more information about this historic move, click here.
