Mr. Pickle's Sandwich Shop Opens Doors in Queen Creek
By Alison Bailin -
Friday Jan 26, 2024
By popular demand, Mr. Pickle’s Sandwich Shop has officially opened its doors in Queen Creek. The restaurant, which marks Mr. Pickle’s sixth in Arizona to open in the past 12 months, is located at 37666 N. Gantzel Road conveniently near Sprouts, Café Rio, and Nektar Juice. At 1,600 square feet, the Queen Creek restaurant is the largest to date in Arizona, and its hours are Monday to Saturday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
“Many California transplants know Mr. Pickle’s as a beloved mom-and-pop family of quick-service restaurants with premium sandwiches and salads as they have been a cult favorite for foodies in the Golden State since 1995,” said Mike Nelson, CEO of Mr. Pickle’s and long-time Valley resident. “Enamored with the brand myself – big sandwich guy, here – when the original owners announce their retirement plans in 2020, I decided to make the leap of a lifetime and purchase the brand, with our first of many goals being to bring it to my own backyard in Arizona.”
Succeeding on all fronts after investing heavily in the brand’s infrastructure and technology partners, Nelson moved Mr. Pickle’s headquarters to Arizona in 2021 and put a plan in motion to expand the craveable brand across Maricopa County.
This Queen Creek restaurant joins sister shops across Scottsdale, Chandler, Laveen, and Surprise, which opened in 2023. The rocket-fueled growth of the brand, led by its surge across the Valley, is obtaining national acclaim in recent months, resulting in Mr. Pickle’s being named the among the 2023 Fastest Growing Emerging Restaurants in the United States by Nation’s Restaurant News in its annual “100 Under 100” program. With this list of the top 100 emerging chains with fewer than 100 locations, Nation’s Restaurant News set out to quantify which emerging brands truly possessed the most momentum across the United States. Mr. Pickle’s, which is now offering franchise opportunities nationwide, came in at No. 70.
“On top of this, we just learned that our Arizona expansion was the top-read story on Fast Casual’s website last year as well, something we never even dreamed as possible when first putting our plans down on paper,” said Nelson.
According to Nelson, those looking for Mr. Pickle’s long-time favorites will be in luck at the new Queen Creek outpost, including the Santa Maria Tri-Tip, Big Jake, and Mr. Pickle itself, which is chicken breast, bacon, Monterey jack, avocado and the works as it relates to veggies. There are also a host of chips, salads, a full kid’s menu, and – of course – jumbo dill pickles to enjoy as well.
However, both fans and new visitors alike are also in for some surprises, as well.
“This week, in line with the opening of our Queen Creek location, we are launching two wholly new sandwiches to the menu in the Goomba and the Mama Mia,” said Nelson.
Italian for friend or confidant, the Goomba features capicola and pepperoni – new proteins for the brand across all of its Arizona stores – as well as salami, ham, red onion, pepperoncini, pickles, red wine vinegar, tomatoes, and lettuce. It can also be transformed into a perfect chopped salad with the works and a choice of dressings, to boot.
The Mama Mia is Mr. Pickle’s spicy twist on a traditional meatball sandwich that pairs warm meatballs with capicola, melty pepper jack cheese, pepperoni, and jalapenos.
According to Nelson, Mr. Pickle’s Queen Creek will also feature the two sandwiches he and his business partner, Dean Johnson, developed when announcing their expansion into Arizona in the Listen Linda and Della Deli, sandwiches created as homage to the men’s long-time wives, Linda and Della.
“We also just enhanced our bread, adding new craveable roles to our expansive carb-lover section of the menu,” said Nelson. “We are proud to be partnering with a premier brand out of San Francisco whose mother dough dates back more than 150 years to make these ultra-specialty rolls, as well as our new sliced sourdough, custom to us.”
Those unable to enjoy Mr. Pickle’s in person in Queen Creek are also in luck. A leader in online ordering technology, Mr. Pickle’s partners with DoorDash and invested in Paytronix Systems, Inc., the most advanced digital guest experience platform, to provide direct order and delivery services straight from its website at http://www.mrpickles.com.
Finally, every order automatically comes with one of our melt-in-your-mouth cookies, a hallmark of the brand since its inception.
For more information, visit http://www.mrpickles.com.
About Mr. Pickle’s Sandwich Shop
Since 1995, Mr. Pickle’s has been a premier sandwich shop specializing in innovative and craveworthy sandwiches, salads and catering. During its first three decades, thanks to its community culture, incredible recipes, and all its fans, the brand grew from one to 56 locations across northern California. In 2023, Mr. Pickle’s formally expanded to Arizona, and now under the leadership of franchise veterans Mike Nelson and Dean Johnson is looking to grow nationwide in the years to come. Currently, there are 62 locations across Arizona and California. Mr. Pickle’s has one goal: for guests to “Enjoy Every Sandwich.”