In a Pickle

Kevin Morrison (left) and Tony Walker bask in the brine (Credit: Justin Jimenez)

Let’s just say here at Metromix we are not big on chains. Which is why you don’t dare call Spicy Pickle a chain, especially when sitting down for a sandwich with co-founders Kevin Morrison and Tony Walker at the first and original Spicy Pickle location in Denver. The two former chefs of Barolo Grill started out on the sandwich safari nine years ago, and now 42 stores and 15 states later, these subs have hit the big time. It’s a reasonable deduction to make that because the shops are sprouting up faster than Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen fan websites that the one-stop sandwich shop is indeed a “chain,” but we realized that is blasphemy in the culinary world. As soon as we bit into our first sub, we admitted our mistake. What chain do you know that has over 160,000 different combinations for a gourmet sub?

We caught up with the two food gurus to talk about their inspiration, their roles from sandwich maker to sandwich mogul, and of course, their favorite toppings.

You both were top chefs at one of the top restaurants in town. How the heck did a sandwich shop come into the picture?
Kevin Morrison: We love the restaurant business, and there weren’t too many good sandwich shops in Denver then. One of my accounts was Il Fornaio and I would bring back some of the ciabatta loafs and make sandwiches for the guys back in the kitchen at Barolo and they would always say “You can’t get a sandwich like this in Denver.” So we figured it was just the right thing to do at the right time.
Tony Walker:  Plus we just wanted to have that freedom and the creative control, and a shop like this allowed us to have that.

Where did the name spawn from?
KM: We went to Don’s Mixed Drinks for some inspiration. We still couldn’t think of anything, so we started with the beer, moved to the shots, you know no one walks out of Don’s sober. We got the whole bar involved in naming this sandwich shop that didn’t even exist yet. Finally someone shouted out “pickle.” We started making some calls right there and asking people what they thought, and someone said, “No it needs more kick, more spice, something spicier.” There it was, Spicy Pickle. That was the kind of market research we did.
TW: Then I found this guy on the internet; turns out he was a train driver that was also doing logos. We paid him $150 and he gave us our first logo, still on this store today. Now its like $150 for 50 minutes with a graphic designer. You have an eight hour brainstorming session with questions like what do you want the images voice to be, what should it say to people. I was always like, ‘why don’t we just say Spicy Pickle, we sell sandwiches.’ But things are more complicated now.
KM: Then all of the sudden we realized before we opened we didn’t have any actual spicy pickles to sell. So we scrambled, and a friend of ours owned Jax Fish House and he let us make them there. I would haul them back in forth in my Isuzu Trouper and that thing wreaked like pickles until the day I sold it.

What makes the Spicy Pickle so damn good?
KM: The menu was easy because we were both chefs. From 1999 until today the menu really hasn’t changed that much. We added the signature subs to speed up the line a little, and the pizzas to compliment the night menu. And we are actually looking into breakfast in certain markets too.
TW: It is freedom of creativity. You don’t get our Italian, you get yours. People want to accessorize their iPod, personalize their Facebook page; it is an on demand society, even with sandwiches.
KM: Freshness for sure is a major component too. All of our bread is baked fresh daily, and the produce is top quality.

With more stores opening almost every day, the role you two play must have evolved quite a bit…
KM: That was hard going from managing a restaurant to managing a brand. Now as a franchisor the focus is much different, many more expectations on your back. Now I have to look four to five years in the future, but when I was just running restaurant I was only thinking about lunch the next day, whether or not it might rain and if I had to set out the patio.

TW: The first store was easy. Now it’s a roller coaster, things change, your vision changes.  We are trying to take our passion and make sure that translates down our corporation, to the franchisee and to their staff. They need to have the same passion that we do on the ground level.

Favorite sandwich?
KM: The Italian with cappocola, basil mayo, let tom, onion and banana peppers.
TW:  I wouldn’t do the banana peppers, I would do the pepperoncinis and mozzarella.