Genghis Grill Founder Debuts Which Wich Sandwich Concept

(Monday, January 12, 2004) - Jeff Sinelli, former owner of the Genghis Grill chain, is turning his attentions away from Mongolian-style barbecue to the all-American sub sandwich. In mid-December, Sinelli debuted his new WhichWich sandwich shop in downtown Dallas. Sinelli, who has declared his fondness for alliterative restaurant names, unveiled his new creation in a former Subway outlet. Open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., WhichWich uses a proprietary ordering system that employs brown bags that eventually become the sandwich packaging. The menu features more than 40 sandwiches, all priced at $4 and served hot on a choice of three breads, including a lowcarbohydrate option. WhichWich's sack-menus invite guests to tailor their own brown-bag creations. Sinelli said he intends to franchise the concept, whose footprints range from 1,000 to 1,400 square feet and include 30 to 40 seats. Interior decor includes the use of brushed steel, blond woods and signage, and menu boards in yellow and black, said Sinelli, who created his new company, Sinelli Concepts Inc., after selling Genghis Grill, which was a Nation's Restaurant News Hot Concept! winner in 2002 "My magic number for WhichWich development costs is between $100,000 and $125,000 per unit, with franchise fee," he said. "With that number we can be south of the major sandwich companies and really have a value-engineered concept." Customers at the WhichWich prototype outlet are greeted near the entrance by a wall of stainless-steel boxes that contain 4- by 12-inch brown bags for each sandwich type and red markers that guests use to check off their bread, meat, cheese and condiment selections. Patrons mark their name at the bottom and take three steps to the cashier. "She has your name because it's on the bag," Sinelli explained. "She can establish a rapport." The marked-bag ordering system allows WhichWich to displace labor onto the customer, Sinelli said. "First, we have cost savings in the back that way; two, I want to provide interactivity; and, three, it provides a unique system." The cashier asks the customer if he or she would like a soft drink or chips and then attaches the order bag to a sliding clip on a wire. "We have house chips, which is a crunchy, wavy potato chip with salt and pepper on it," Sinelli said of the limited options. "We can eliminate boxes in the back-of-the-house." The bag continues along the straight-line preparation track. "At the finishing station, where the sandwich is bagged, they call you by your name," Sinelli said. "There's no number. It's so easy to use their name." The stainless-steel kitchen with sealed natural concrete floors is open to view for customers passing by. "Everything is sliced behind the counter so it shows the freshness," Sinelli said. "The materials used in both the kitchen and the dining area help bring development costs down. All of our equipment is off the shelf." Near the drink station, four rolls of paper towels hang at eye height — a service design that Sinelli said was intended to save space as well as reduce storage of paper products in the back. About a third of the restaurant's 1,400 square feet is dedicated to kitchen and storage. The restaurant's bright design is enhanced by the lack of decorative motifs, other than universal arrows showing customers where necessities like drinks and bathrooms are located. Five large-scale "international symbol" icons hang on the walls in bright yellow and black. "The graphics have an international direction," Sinelli said.
The restaurant's bright design is enhanced by the lack of decorative motifs, other than universal arrows showing customers where necessities like drinks and bathrooms are located. Five large-scale "international symbol" icons hang on the walls in bright yellow and black. "The graphics have an international direction," Sinelli said. Paul Kellerhals, who was the creative director for Sinelli's Genghis Grill, oversaw the design for Which Wich. "Paul lives in Northern California and was also recently hired on to be the creative director at Il Fornaio," Sinelli said. The seating area includes simple chairs designed specifically for Which Wich by a Colorado manufacturer who also did the chairs for Chipotle. Borrowing a page from the playbook of such successful operations as Starbucks, Sinelli tapped a fraternity brother in the music business to provide music for Which Wich. Compact discs of the store's music will be available for sale. He said he teamed with Gregg Latterman of Aware Records because it was a good fit for the new Which Wich concept. "Gregg and I were college fraternity brothers at Michigan State University," Sinelli explained. "He was always into music, and my interest was in hospitality-entertainment. . . . Music is going to be one of the draws in WW, especially when we penetrate the college-university markets. We are looking forward to developing our own 'Which Music Do You Like?' with Gregg and his connections at Aware Records." While the music at Which Wich may be a high-tech innovation, marketing at the Dallas prototype outlet is a combination of low and high tech. A sandwich board worn by an employee is used on the street outside, but the one-man marketer also can step onto a Segway Human Transporter parked near an office niche in the back and scoot around the streets. Sinelli said the gyroscopically balanced Segway scooter also may be used for deliveries.

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