OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – You know them for their fresh sandwiches and you might know them for their catchy commercial jingle. But you might not know this chain of popular sandwich shops is based in Kansas. Mr. Goodcents’ President and CEO says that’s because he loves Kansas.
“I just love the Midwest. I wouldn't live anywhere else on the planet.”It's been 20 years this month since Bisogno launched Mr. Goodcents. A concept based on his east coast upbringing and his west coast fast food experience.“I worked for McDonald's Corporation prior to starting Goodcents,” Bisogno says. “I worked for Mr. Kroc, the founder of McDonald's.”We sat down to talk in his very first location on the corner of College and Pflumm in Overland Park. Bisogno says he actually hung the ceiling tiles and installed the counters when the store opened.
“In this location, Southlake Industrial Park was one of the largest employers 20-years ago. Corporate Woods was just starting up, and was the second largest employer in Johnson County.”
Bisogno says the original store worked there because folks would eat there for lunch, and then go home to the suburbs. As they expanded, they had an instant customer base. 20-years later, Mr. Goodcents boasts 107 locations in 13 states – with 15 new stores opening in the next three months.
So what makes a good sandwich? “It starts with the bread,” Bisogno says. “The bread is a formula we created 21/22 years ago right here in Lenexa, Kansas.”
Next, Joe says, are the fresh ingredients. Every slice of lunchmeat and cheese is cut fresh to order, and piled high.
“We were very ahead of our time and still are. Cause today, a lot of people want to pre-package it. Just put it on the bread and serve it. We slice it fresh every single day at Mr. Goodcents.”
Besides the daily lunch and dinner traffic, Mr. Goodcents has built a big business on catering. From boxed lunches to party trays they'll do it all -- and they deliver. Plus, there’s a side to this company that the average customer never sees: “We're putting a very large push on our franchising right now,” Bisogno says.
Of the 107 stores, 104 are franchise owned. The company retooled the concept about four years ago. It’s a new model that Bisogno says is working much better.
“It's focused on making more profits for the franchisee. The franchise makes more profit; they obviously want to open more stores. That's what we're all about.”
