Mr. Pickle’s Sandwich Shop, a beloved mom-and-pop family of quick-service restaurants with premium sandwiches and salads, has officially broken ground in Queen Creek at the Vineyard Towne Center and is set to open by mid-fall.
The 1,600-square-foot restaurant will employ approximately 25 team members at 200 W. Combs Road.
“Since 1995, Mr. Pickle’s has been a premier sandwich shop specializing in innovative and crave worthy sandwiches, salads and catering,” said Mike Nelson, chief executive officer, Valley resident and long-time customer who purchased the brand in 2020 when founders/owners Frank and Michele Fagundes decided to retire. “During its first three decades, thanks to its community culture, incredible recipes and all its fans, the brand grew from one to 56 locations across northern California.”
Mr. Pickle’s new location will be the brand’s first shop in Queen Creek and its sixth in Arizona, with previous restaurants opening in Scottsdale, Chandler and Surprise earlier in 2023, and a Laveen location slated to open by September. In 2021, when Nelson purchased the brand, the national headquarters also moved to the Valley.
“Our new Queen Creek restaurant will feature all of Mr. Pickle’s most popular hot and cold sandwiches, notably the Mr. Pickle, which is chicken breast, bacon, Monterey jack, avocado and the works as it relates to veggies; the Santa Maria Tri-Tip, which is actual tri-tip sourced from the famed Santa Maria region topped with specialty barbecue sauce and the works; and Big Jake, a turkey sandwich with cream cheese, avocado and the works,” said Nelson.
The brand now also has two new sandwiches of note.
“The first is Listen Linda, which is named after my wife of 36 years and is piled high with turkey breast, avocado, bacon, Swiss cheese and the works – including our specialty garlic sauce – as far as condiments unless otherwise noted,” said Nelson. “And the second? That would be Della’s Deli, which honors my business partner, best friend and Mr. Pickle’s president Dean Johnson’s wife of more than 40 years, Della. It features turkey breast, ham, salami, cheddar and the works.”
There are 10 types of bread and wraps from which to choose at Mr. Pickle’s, including the Dutch crunch roll, sourdough roll, sweet roll, wheat roll, sliced sourdough, sliced wheat, sliced marble rye and various wraps, including gluten-free wraps. In addition to a wide selection of chips, sides include red potato salad, macaroni salad, jumbo whole dill pickles (of course) and fresh baked chocolate chunk cookies. A cookie is also given free with every sandwich, salad or wrap.
“For those who do not know the brand yet, every order automatically comes with one of our melt-in-your-mouth cookies, a hallmark of the brand since its inception,” said Nelson, adding there is also apple sauce available as a side in kid’s menus.
In addition to carrying its full menu and adding new recipes that fit the market, Mr. Pickle’s will continue to its close-knit relationships with vendors as it grows, notably Frito-Lay, Dirty Chip, Pepsi, Foster Farms, Max’s Artisan Breads, Best Foods and Hidden Valley. A leader in online ordering technology, Mr. Pickle’s partners with DoorDash and invested in Paytronix Systems, Inc., the most advanced digital guest experience platform, in the past year. Through the partnership Mr. Pickle’s uses the full Paytronix Platform for its loyalty, order, delivery, mobile and gift system.
“We partner with as many artisan bakers, regional farms and ranches that we can when sourcing our products, making every item unique to us,” said Nelson, who spent the past year bringing the business into the digital age and investing in technology that will propel the brand forward nationwide. “You will not see six-inch and foot-long sizing from us, more specialty breads than uniform options.”
For more information, visit mrpickles.com.
