Jeff Sinelli, founder and boss at Dallas-based sandwich chain Which Wich, stopped by the NRN booth and, when I asked to take his picture, he immediately walked over to the promotional poster for this year’s MUFSO conference and posed in front of it. Yes, Jeff knows how to show gratitude. He’s the only restaurateur to have won two Hot Concepts awards from us, one for his Genghis Grill and the other for Which Wich. And Jeff’s all about leveraging relationships — with vendors, with customers and, yes, with the press.
So he gave us the scoop on the 1,500-square-foot test kitchen, or “R&D Center,” that he’s building in Dallas, and for which he’s shopping for equipment here at the show.
There’s no corporate chef at Which Wich. Jeff does all the product development himself with the help of his vendor partners — leveraging that relationship.
The facility, which he hopes to launch mid-Summer, will be open to the public and will feature different test items every week — maybe items using peppadews one week, naan bread the next — all available for customers at a discount. In return, he’ll ask for their feedback, leveraging his relationship with them to use them as focus groups.
I asked Jeff if he’d be at our MenuMasters party this evening, and he said, “Some things you don’t miss. You don’t miss your daughter’s wedding and you don’t miss a party by NRN.”
-- Bret Thorn at bthorn@nrn.com.
