[upbeat music] Hi, my name is Ray Stoltz.

I'm the owner of Picasso's in Erie, Pennsylvania.

So my brother and a friend of ours got together.

Food Network was going crazy at the time, it was like the number one station and everybody wanted to do something.

And we basically wanted to open the Starbucks of delis.

So if Starbucks would do it, we'd do it.

If Apple would do it, we'd do it.

We want to open a local place, but have kind of like a franchise kind of feel.

And then I was driving to work and I'm like, why don't I put a Twinkie on a sandwich?

I pull in, I tell my staff, I said, I'm gonna put a Twinkie on a sandwich.

I build it, I just did Twinkie, ham, and cheese.

I grilled it.

I took a bite of it, I put it down.

I said, that's gonna put us on the map.

That's outstanding.

And 22 days later, Jay Leno was saying our name on the "Jay Leno Show".

And then the next morning, the "Today Show" showed that clip.

So it went from, hey, let's open a shop and okay, we're getting our footing and figuring out how our operations work.

And hey, maybe we should run a sandwich this way.

Or maybe we should do it this way, to nonstop business open.

Like a line from morning 'til night.

We're one of a kind, so we're the only one.

Everyone walks in here and they think we're a chain, and by design, we kind of designed ourselves that way, but our menu's so different.

But our number one seller is the Mona Lisa, turkey, tomato, artichoke hearts, baby spinach, pesto, mayo, Havarti.

Some lady ate one in Florida, was here visiting in Florida, and she came back, she said, I've been thinking about this sandwich for 18 months.

And I said, just as good as you remember?

She goes, I have to move.

She goes, I have to move to Erie because this is amazing.

So we're very lucky.

I mean, we do a lot of work.

It takes a long time to get one of our sandwiches done to perfection.

You have to want to take another bite before you swallow the bite that's in your mouth, or it doesn't go on our menu.

And that was a friend of mine.

He said that, he goes, ah, Ray, I was going to take a bite.

And I realized I didn't even swallow the bite that was in my mouth.

I said, that's it.

That's our benchmark from now on.

Either our food is that good where you're like, can't wait to take another bite, or it doesn't go on the menu.

[upbeat music] Yelp named us the number one road trip destination in Pennsylvania.

So they picked out one place per state, and they said, if you're gonna drive through that place, this is the place to hit.

And they picked us for Pennsylvania.

Incredibly humbling.

I'm very lucky.

I have a cult following.

We have crazy sandwiches, people love it.

I've got some national recognition.

I really, I'm very, very lucky and I'm thankful for that.

But not everybody does.

And when it's a good place and it's small and it's local, I will go and advertise for 'em because I want them to win.

I want everybody to win.

Everyone should win.

I think if we had more of that, I think everyone would, it would be an easier time for everybody.

[upbeat music]