September 01, 2011: Employees at Lenny's Sub Shop await the grand opening on Aug. 23. The first 25 customers received one free sub a week for a year.
Long-time best friends Tripp Williams and Lawson Fisher franchised Lenny's Sub Shop in Jonesboro after the two became business partners about three years ago when they decided to jump into the Lenny's business by opening their first store in downtown Memphis, Tenn.
Williams and Fisher own four Lenny's in Memphis and one in Little Rock. They decided to open a sub shop in Jonesboro to cater to the college crowd.
″We knew we had to get over here and open a store,″ Fisher said. ″With our location, we are minutes away from the ASU campus and we really wanted to target college students the most.″
The first Lenny's Sub Shop was founded by Len Moore in 1998. In 2004, he sold a majority of the ownership to George Alvord and a group of private investors.
According to Lenny's website, Moore decided to franchise Lenny's and moved to Houston, Texas to open a sub shop there.
Lenny's on Stadium Boulevard opened their doors Aug. 23, and gave the first 25 customers free Lenny's for a year.
″We ended up having about 200 to 250 customers come in the doors,″ Fisher said. ″It was a big success.″
Lenny's Sub Shop is most famous for their authentic philly cheesesteak sub and that ″deli fresh experience.″
″Lenny's motto is 'More Food, More Taste, More Personality!,'″ Fisher said. ″Our premium deli meats are sliced to order. Our regular 7 ½ inch sub has a half a pound of meat and cheese.″
Since Williams and Fisher's new location is so close to campus, they wanted to decorate the restaurant with ASU décor.
″We went and talked to Coach Freeze and he gave us some jerseys to put on the walls,″ Fisher said.
Lenny's Corporation is turning to social media to help promote their businesses around the Southeast.
″We have around 60,000 Facebook fans,″ President of Memphis based Lenny's Sub Shop Brent Alvord said. ″We have a 'Social Wednesday' where our Facebook fans can get exclusive coupons. We also have a Twitter account where we post links to get our 'Social Wednesday' coupons.″
Williams and Fisher are planning on visiting the ASU campus within the next few weeks to give away coupons and other information about the new sub shop.
″I think actually going on campus and handing out fliers and coupons is a great way to tell people we are here to cater to them,″ Fisher said. ″We are also going to try to get a commercial lined-up on the radio so we can really expand our business.″
Lenny's sub shop offers catering, online, phone and in-store ordering.
″We are really hoping to get a lot of catering orders once football season gets started,″ Fisher said. ″We know college students will want something quick and easy to eat while they're tailgating with friends, and our catering options are perfect for it. We also have box lunches that are perfect for smaller groups of people while tailgating or for a business meeting, whatever the occasion.″
Lenny's Sub Shop is open from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week.
″We might look into staying open later in the near future,″ Fisher said. ″But for right now we are sticking with the times we have. We want everyone to be able to come out and get some good deli fresh sandwiches and just have a good time.″
Lenny's is a genuine Philadelphia-style sub shop offering fresh baked bread and the finest quality deli meats and cheese – sliced fresh and made to order.