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Mark Chiattello remembers when his father, Guy, started A.J.Pickerman's. Even though the restaurant chain closed fiveyears later, in 1980, a victim of the decade's slumpingeconomy, Guy never gave up on the idea.
Twenty years later, when the younger Chiattello was thinkingabout starting a business of his own, Guy suggested resurrecting A.J. Pickerman's. So that's just what he did back in '96.But Chiattello wasn't interested in simply restarting hisfather's company; he wanted to make a few alterations,including changing the restaurant's name to Pickerman'sSoup & Sandwich Shop.
"Back when my father owned it, it was a full-service,full-menu restaurant," Chiattello recalls. "I decided tokeep the menu and the concept very simple. I didn't want to beall over the board, trying to serve all kinds of items."
The new Pickerman's has a menu of gourmet sandwiches, soupsand salads that are served at the company's 22 franchiselocations throughout the Midwest. Twenty other locations arecurrently under construction, and Chiattello hopes to open 50 unitsby year-end and double the number of new units each year afterthat. "In the first quarter, we got 20 leases out," hesays. "It's just a matter of finding spots and getting theleases signed."
With the support of his family-his father is companypresident, his brother does computer design for the stores, and hiswife and his mother handle the décor for eachlocation-Chiattello's building the company of dreams."My life is dedicated to Pickerman's," says the29-year-old. "I'm still a pretty young guy, but a fewyears ago, I decided this is what I want to do."
And maybe in another 20 years, Chiattello's now 2-year-olddaughter will decide running Pickerman's is what she wants todo, too. A turnkey Pickerman's franchise costs between $110,000and $120,000.
