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Peanut butter and jelly, cookies and milk, bacon and eggs, spaghetti and meatballs are all classic food pairings. Grilled cheese and tomato soup is not far behind.
Or so thought Trew Quackenbush, Corey Ward, and their wives when they tested the waters with only “a tent and a griddle” in Cincinnati in 2009. The four opened their first grilled cheese and tomato soup shop a year later. Five more stores followed.
Tom + Chee is a simple concept: 25-plus varieties of grilled cheese sandwiches (the mac and cheese grilled cheese is below left), plus salads, and three versions of tomato soup. A special, T+C’s Grilled Cheese Donut, (below right) was featured on ABC’s The Chew, on the Travel Channel’s Man v. Food Nation, and was named one of America’s best new sandwiches by NBC’s Today show.
Hoping to upgrade their mini-empire and raise funds for expansion, they pitched the fast-casual concept on ABC’s Shark Tank last May and successfully won an investment deal.
Then the floodgates opened.
To date, there have been 12,000 inquiries from people wanting to open Tom + Chee stores, “from all 50 states, plus Canada, Ireland, Dubai—all over the world,” says Quackenbush. “We have 150 stores under contract. By the end of 2014, we’ll have Tom + Chees in 15 states, and will be opening a store a week.”
One of the chosen franchisees is Doug Mating, who was granted the development rights for St. Louis County and St. Charles County. Mating hails from Dunlap, Ill., but has a daughter who lives in St. Charles.
According to Mating, the stores average 2,000 square feet and aim for $1 million in sales per store. Though no leases have been signed, Mating is confident that the first Tom + Chee will open this year.
It may just be the next big thing: The 2013 Brand Innovators Made in America Summit named Tom + Chee one of “25 Brands to Watch.” Mating would agree: He thinks the region can handle 15 to 20 stores.
Shark Tank will share an update about Tom + Chee's success story tomorrow night at 8 p.m.
