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Company type | Private |
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Industry | Restaurants Franchising |
Genre | Fast Casual |
Founded | 1976 Wilmington, Delaware, US |
Founders | Lois and Alan Margolet |
Headquarters | Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. |
Number of locations | 112 [1] |
Area served | United States |
Key people | Ashley Morris (CEO) Jason Smylie (CIO) George Chanos (Chairman) David Bloom (CDO/COO) Brent D. Erwin (CFO) |
Products | |
Revenue | ![]() |
Number of employees | About 1,000 [1] |
Website | www |
Capriotti's Sandwich Shop, Inc. (also called Capriotti's) is a fast casual restaurant chain in the United States. [2] The restaurant chain was founded in Wilmington, Delaware in 1976. [3] Capriotti's has 112 company-owned and franchise locations in 27 states. [1] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Capriotti's was founded in Little Italy, Wilmington, Delaware in 1976. [3] [4] [7] The restaurant is named after the founders' grandfather, Philip Capriotti. [3] [8] In 1988, the second restaurant location opened in New Castle, Delaware. In 1991, Capriotti's began franchising their restaurants. [9]
In 1993, the first restaurant location in Las Vegas, Nevada was opened on Sahara Avenue, near Las Vegas Boulevard. [10] In 2004, Ashley Morris and Jason Smylie opened a franchise in Las Vegas. At the time, Morris was the youngest financial adviser at Wells Fargo. [10] [11] [12] [13] Smylie was a software engineer at Bechtel Nevada. Morris and Smylie were also investors in the housing market and made the decision to invest in a franchise after learning that the return on investment was higher than anything they were looking at investing in. [13] In 2007, Morris and Smylie put the company in escrow. In the following year Morris, Smylie and a group of investors consisting of 95% Las Vegans bought Capriotti's. Capriotti's had 44 restaurant locations by the end of 2008. [12] Morris is the CEO of the company. [12] [13] [14] [15] In 2008 and 2009 the chain was the official sandwich sponsor of the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. [16] [17] Capriotti's was ranked in Entrepreneur magazine's top 500 franchise list in 2010 and remained ranked through 2014. [12]
Capriotti's starred on Food Network's Unwrapped in December 2011. [18] [19] In November 2013, Capriotti's expanded its presence on the East Coast by opening its first location in Washington DC. [20] [21] Joe Biden was the first customer served at the store's grand opening. [21] [22] [23] That year, Capriotti's brought in over $58 million in revenue and experienced a 48% growth over the previous three years. [24] In 2014, the company was named one of the "Top 10 Best Food Franchises for Your Buck" and one of "America's Best Franchises" by Forbes magazine. [25] [26]
The Sandelman & Associates Quick Track Study on the Top 10 Quick Service Restaurant Concepts ranked Capriotti's among the top ten in overall satisfaction [27] and won the award for highest quality and taste in the 2014 study. [28]
Capriotti's is now based in Las Vegas, Nevada and has its largest concentration of shops there. The restaurant chain has 112 locations in 27 states including: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington State and Wisconsin. [5] [6] [29] In 2014, it ranked #293 in Entrepreneur's Franchise 500. In 2016, Capriotti's was ranked #264 in Entrepreneur's Franchise 500. [30]
Capriotti's specializes in cold, grilled, and vegetarian hoagies or submarine sandwiches. [6] Each restaurant roasts whole turkeys for 12 hours nightly, hand pulls meats, and makes their own meatballs and coleslaw. [5] [7] [9]
In November 2009, the Bobbie, one of Capriotti's signature sandwiches, was voted "The Greatest Sandwich in America" by AOL.com. [31] The sandwich is made with pulled turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing and mayonnaise. [31] The Margolets named it after their aunt. [32] In 2012, USA Today named Capriotti's one of the "10 Great Places for a Surprising Sandwich". [33]
Capriotti has utilized Google Glass to re-record employee training videos in a first person view. [34] Management trainees also wear Google Glass during rush hour periods and review the footage for constructive visual feedback. [34] [35] Capriotti's uses an app-based loyalty program. [36]