Competing with pitas and pizza, Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwich Shop is the newest entry into the Marshall Street market for food.

Open since Jan. 4, Jimmy John’s offers subs, club sandwiches and Coca Cola products, and delivery to students on the hill as late as 3 a.m.

‘We’re amazed at how much people love the wheat bread, we can’t bake it fast enough,’ said John Hutchinson, the franchisee and manager of the store. ‘It’s all about the freshness.’

Hutchinson said employees get to work around 6 a.m., baking bread and preparing the other ingredients for the subs.

The presence of the Syracuse University campus made Marshall Street an attractive location for a new restaurant, Hutchinson said, describing how the franchise drew large numbers of students in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Hutchinson decided to enter the restaurant business, and return to Syracuse, where he grew up.

‘You either keep working for other people, or work for yourself,’ Hutchinson said. ‘I took the jump.’

Other entrepreneurs, however, also saw Marshall Street as an attractive place to open for business: a Quizno’s is slated to open around the corner from Jimmy John’s, along with the recent addition of Tasti D-Lite, a student-run frozen dessert shop.

With a Subway in Marshall Square Mall, Quizno’s opening on South Crouse Avenue, and the continuing presence of institutions like Acropolis and Cosmo’s Pizza and Grill, the competition for customers is becoming fierce.

‘It’s tough competition for Pita Pit,’ said Amy Travis, a senior majoring in advertising and marketing.

Hutchinson was confident his restaurant will be competitive.

‘People are going to make up their own minds,’ Hutchinson said. ‘If they like it, they’ll keep coming back. But quality always wins.’

Late-night delivery will also give Jimmy John’s an edge, he said. The only other restaurant on the hill that delivers until 3 a.m. is Pita Pit.

‘We’re working to get sandwiches to people in faster times than they’ve ever gotten delivery before,’ Hutchinson said. ‘I want to beat 20 minutes.’

Jimmy John Liautaud founded the chain of gourmet sandwich shops in 1983 in a converted garage in Charleston, Ill., when he was 19 years old.

In the 21 years since, it has expanded into an international company recognized by the Restaurant Business magazine as the fourth fastest-growing franchise in the sandwich business.

Published on January 17, 2005 at 12:00 pm