Grill Master

“I had someone come to work for Charley’s who had previously been with another QSR [quick service restaurant] concept. This person was shaking and sweating because they were used to seeing a frozen burger run through a chain broiler for 2 minutes and drop into a bin for 1 hour. Now, they had a hot plate of steel in front of them, fresh ingredients and less than 90 seconds with a customer staring at them. Little different, huh?”

A little different? Try a LOT different. We don’t mess around when it comes to things like your food. Believe me, it would be a whole lot easier to deal with frozen ingredients. We’re not in the business of easy, though. We’re in the business of making you drool, and then feeding you the best sandwiches we can make. Nowhere in that equation does ‘frozen’ have a place. We’re slapping fresh onto a crazy-hot grill and putting it in front of you fast.
Our baby is the grill – 4 to 5 feet wide – that cooks at over 300 degrees. They are ‘flat top’ because it’s quick and heat is evenly distributed, but also because of tradition. Cheeesesteaks were born in the depression era and were called depression food: bread, beef, onions or peppers – on a flat top grill. Simple and good.
Pulling the perfect sandwich together is an art and a science. We’ve got a secret weapon when it comes to how we do it: John Hammond. John has been with Charley’s since 1992, when there were 10 stores (we’re up to almost 400 now). He’s been a general manager and is now our director of Training, but we like to call him the Grill Master. He’s traveled the nation and the world to help open stores and to service them – training franchisees and employees for over 12 years now with over 1000 sessions under his belt. Along with his number-two-in-charge Shona Barnes (10+ years with Charley’s) he is responsible for getting us ready to grill like pros.
So that’s how we do things: hot grill, fresh ingredients, top-notch prep from ‘the master’ and BAM – you’re sandwich is steaming in front of you.

A little different? Try a LOT different. We don’t mess around when it comes to things like your food. Believe me, it would be a whole lot easier to deal with frozen ingredients. We’re not in the business of easy, though. We’re in the business of making you drool, and then feeding you the best sandwiches we can make. Nowhere in that equation does ‘frozen’ have a place. We’re slapping fresh onto a crazy-hot grill and putting it in front of you fast.

Our baby is the grill – 4 to 5 feet wide – that cooks at over 300 degrees. They are ‘flat top’ because it’s quick and heat is evenly distributed, but also because of tradition. Cheesesteaks were born in the depression era and were called depression food: bread, beef, onions or peppers – on a flat top grill. Simple and good.

Pulling the perfect sandwich together is an art and a science. We’ve got a secret weapon when it comes to how we do it: John Hammond. John has been with Charley’s since 1992, when there were 10 stores (we’re up to almost 400 now). He’s been a general manager and is now our director of Training, but we like to call him the Grill Master. He’s traveled the nation and the world to help open stores and to service them – training franchisees and employees for over 12 years now with over 1000 sessions under his belt. Along with his number-two-in-charge Shona Barnes (10+ years with Charley’s) he is responsible for getting us ready to grill like pros.

So that’s how we do things: hot grill, fresh ingredients, top-notch prep from ‘the master’ and BAM – you’re sandwich is steaming in front of you.

What are you the master of?

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