Reporting from MISSION BAY
When I first met Ike Shehadeh in November 2012, out front his undersized, bustling storefront wedged between Mission Dolores and the Castro, I spoke with a young entrepreneur bubbling with ambition, drive, and, much like his sandwiches, something else.
Something special.
Ike’s signature flavor profiles and cheekily suggestive sandwich names carved a spot into San Francisco’s heart, and, in the last decade, expanded into dozens of communities across the West.
As I pulled away the 46-year-old from a swirl of fans at the opening of his 100th ‘Ike’s Love & Sandwiches’ store in Mission Bay last week, I asked Ike how he felt at this very moment, celebrating his latest opening.
He answered by pedaling into a bit of Ike’s history.
Ike recalled how, five years before our first interview, he opened his first sandwich shop on Halloween in a Market Street pop-up. For all his success, one could be forgiven for assuming Ike’s first sandwich-making venture was an instant boom.
No.
Ike’s first launch bombed. He had no real plan, no launch ideas, not even a “grand opening” sign.
And, he didn’t sell a single sandwich.
Ike also didn’t sell a single sandwich Thursday in Mission Bay. He did, however, give away dozens of his signature creations to friends, family, community members, and a string of local VIPs, who showed up in droves to savor that something special Ike always seems to deliver.
Now 46 years old, and looking 30, Ike is full of experience, learning, and success in 12 years of the sandwich business. He smiled as he sheepishly told me:
“I eat my sandwiches, that’s how I stay looking young. I love food.”
About his journey, Ike shared:
“It’s pretty cool. I started early in the Castro. I didn’t think that I could open 100 stores someday. In fact, here’s the breaking news. We just signed a new spot yesterday. It’s in New Orleans. The other openings are in Mission Viejo, another one in Santa Rosa and more in Phoenix.”
And for all the stores Ike has opened, not all of them have worked out:
“They kicked us out of the Stanford campus. We’re not on the Stanford campus anymore. We got kicked out since we were too busy.”
Always creating and full of ideas, Ike now extends his recipes beyond sandwiches:
“We’re now selling Ike’s doughnuts in Chico. We’re launching Ike’s Pizza in Santa Rosa. We also have Ike’s Burgers now. We have it here in Mission Bay right now. “
Ike said he will consider adding these new items to existing sandwich shops as a group, or launching each product one by one, depending on the location.
The oldest of four siblings, Ike has created a sandwich empire putting San Francisco and the Bay Area on the map against other cities like New York, Philadelphia and Chicago. And yes, Ike has plans to expand beyond his current reach of stores in California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Colorado and Utah.
As I wiggled through the crowd inside the shop, I found myself next to Huda Shehadeh, the family matriarch and a real powerhouse in Ike’s life. She shared:
“I am very glad to see my son so passionate about making sandwiches. I am grateful to see him succeed in every effort he puts his mind into. He always knows how to make them using different ingredients, even when he was 7 or 8 years old. It’s ingrained in him to do his best.”
During the VIP pre-launch Thursday, Sophia Coleman, 24 from San Francisco, shared how long Ike and his sandwiches have been a part of her life:
“I met Ike when I was very young, and now he has opened up his 100th sandwich shop located so close to the San Francisco Giants, my favorite baseball team. It’s just going to be up, up, up from here.”
