Mr. Pickle’s Sandwich Shop opened Jan. 24 as part of Phase 1 of the 260,000-square-foot Vineyard Towne Center currently under construction in Queen Creek. It marks the company's sixth Valley location to open in the last 12 months. At 1,600 square feet, the Queen Creek restaurant is the company's largest to date in the Phoenix metropolitan area.
“Many California transplants know Mr. Pickle’s as a beloved mom-and-pop family of quick-service restaurants with premium sandwiches and salads as they have been a cult favorite for foodies in the Golden State since 1995,” said Mike Nelson, CEO of Mr. Pickle’s and a longtime Valley resident. “Enamored with the brand myself – big sandwich guy, here – when the original owners announced their retirement plans in 2020, I decided to make the leap of a lifetime and purchase the brand, with our first of many goals being to bring it to my own backyard in Arizona.”
Succeeding on all fronts after investing heavily in the brand’s infrastructure and technology partners, Nelson moved Mr. Pickle’s headquarters to Scottsdale in 2021 and put a plan in motion to expand the craveable brand across Maricopa County.
The new Queen Creek location joins sister shops in Chandler, Scottsdale, Laveen and Surprise, which opened in 2023. The rocket-fueled growth of the brand, led by its surge across the Valley, is obtaining national acclaim in recent months, resulting in Mr. Pickle’s being named among the 2023 Fastest Growing Emerging Restaurants in the United States by Nation’s Restaurant News in its annual “100 Under 100” program. With this list of the top 100 emerging chains with fewer than 100 locations, Nation’s Restaurant News set out to quantify which emerging brands truly possessed the most momentum across the United States. Mr. Pickle’s, which is now offering franchise opportunities nationwide, came in at No. 70.
“On top of this, we just learned that our Arizona expansion was the top-read story on Fast Casual’s website last year as well, something we never even dreamed as possible when first putting our plans down on paper,” added Nelson.
Those looking for Mr. Pickle’s longtime favorites will be in luck at the new Queen Creek outpost. Nelson said they offer customer favorites like the Santa Maria Tri-Tip, Big Jake and Mr. Pickle itself, which is chicken breast, bacon, Monterey jack, avocado and the works as it relates to veggies. There are also a host of chips, salads, a full kid’s menu and – of course – jumbo dill pickles to enjoy as well. At Mr. Pickle’s every order automatically comes with one of their melt-in-your-mouth cookies, a hallmark of the brand since its inception.
According to Nelson, both fans and new visitors alike are also in for some surprises at the newest location.
“This week, in line with the opening of our Queen Creek location, we are launching two wholly new sandwiches to the menu in the Goomba and the Mama Mia,” he said.
The Goomba features capicola and pepperoni – new proteins for the brand across all of its Valley restaurants – as well as salami, ham, red onion, pepperoncini, pickles, red wine vinegar, tomatoes and lettuce. It can also be transformed into a chopped salad with the works and a choice of dressings.
The Mama Mia is Mr. Pickle’s spicy twist on a traditional meatball sandwich that pairs warm meatballs with capicola, melty pepper jack cheese, pepperoni and jalapenos.
According to Nelson, Mr. Pickle’s Queen Creek will also feature the two sandwiches he and his business partner, Dean Johnson, developed when announcing their expansion into Arizona in the Listen Linda and Della Deli, sandwiches created as homage to the men’s longtime wives, Linda and Della.
“We also just enhanced our bread, adding new craveable roles to our expansive carb-lover section of the menu,” said Nelson. “We are proud to be partnering with a premier brand out of San Francisco whose mother dough dates back more than 150 years to make these ultra-specialty rolls, as well as our new sliced sourdough, custom to us.”
Those unable to enjoy Mr. Pickle’s in person are in luck because the restaurant partners with DoorDash and invested in Paytronix Systems, Inc., the most advanced digital guest experience platform, to provide direct order and delivery services straight from its website, at mrpickles.com.
Mr. Pickle’s Sandwich Shop in Queen Creek is located at 37666 N. Gantzel Road, Suite 108, near Sprouts, Café Rio and Nektar Juice in the Vineyard Towne Center, currently under construction at the northwest corner of Gantzel and Combs roads. The new shopping center will also include Target, Chunk Cookies, Mod Pizza, Ono Hawaiian BBQ, Pacific Dental Services and European Wax Center.
Their hours are from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. For more information, visit mrpickles.com.
