11: The Story of Ike’s (Part 1) | Ike Shehadeh, Ike’s Love & Sandwiches

My First Restaurant

“I’m working LESS now with a hundred locations than I did with one… It’s a MYTH that it’s hard to expand.” - Ike Shehadeh
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Imagine the following…
> You’ve been kicked out of college
> Your first business goes broke and you become homeless
> While working three jobs to make ends meet, you decide to open a sandwich shop
> On your first day no one comes. You sell zero sandwiches
> It takes you 3 months just to make more than $300 in gross sales per day
What do you do from here?
Well friends, this is the real life beginning of Ike’s Love & Sandwiches, a now iconic sandwich chain with nearly 100 locations throughout the Western US.
I recently sat down with Ike’s founder Ike Shehadeh to learn about how he overcame these challenges early in life to build such a beloved brand and successful business.
And Ike really BRINGS IT 🔥
His story and perspective is so fascinating, I had to break the interview up into two parts.
Here’s Part 1. Get ready to have your frame altered.
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Where to find Ike’s Sandwiches:

• Website: https://www.ikessandwich.com/
• Instagram: @ikessandwiches
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ikesandwiches/
• Twitter: @ikessandwiches

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Where to find Ike:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ike-shehadeh-a023155/
• Instagram: @ikeshehadeh
• Twitter: @IkeShehadeh
• Website: https://fullmentalalchemist.com/

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Where to find Bryan:

• Website: https://www.myfirstrestaurant.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryan-tublin-03548910/
• Twitter: @btublin

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Where to find Kitava:

• Website: https://www.kitava.com/
• Instagram: @kitavakitchen

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Referenced:

• Dynamic Value & Lagniappe
• Marshall Thurber on Dynamic Value

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In this episode, we cover:

• (02:25) Getting kicked out of college and foreshadowing his path to opening Ike’s
• (05:40) Ike’s early entrepreneurial journey, failures, & becoming homeless
• (08:05) How Ike got back on his feet after losing everything
• (13:00) The tactic he used to talk Victoria’s Secret into hiring him
• (16:45) To find meaningful work, ask: “what do I love to do that I’m already doing right now?”
• (19:54) How the concept of Ike’s first restaurant came to be
• (22:49) Where Ike’s crazy sandwich names came from
• (24:22) Ike’s Earth-shattering Day One gross sales number
• (25:36) The day that changed Ike’s life
• (31:04) How long it took for Ike to pay himself
• (32:15) The creative ways Ike generated more business when they weren’t making money
• (36:34) Wants vs. needs
• (39:10) The idea of Dynamic Value – what differentiates you that makes you unique?
• (43:25) Stumbling upon the dynamic value of “caring more”
• (50:51) How embracing the role of “Be Sexy” allowed Ike to open a second location