In five short years, Tony and Haley Fritz have had quite the ride. They own and operate O’Cheeze, a gourmet grilled cheese concept via two food trucks and a storefront in Minneapolis. Then there’s Dough Dough, an edible cookie dough food truck as well as a shop at the Mall of America in Minnesota (did we mention the mall sees 40 million visitors annually?). And a cheese bar, Gazta and Enhancements, is coming later this fall to St. Paul. We caught up with Tony to talk about the duo’s journey as entrepreneurs and how they are bringing fun to customers in unexpected ways.
Start by talking about your background because it surprisingly isn’t food related.
I graduated with an atmospheric science degree, which is the study of weather, but essentially it’s computer programming. Haley has a marketing background with a social media emphasis. She’s actually the reason we started the O’Cheeze food truck. She fell in love with the social media aspect of how food trucks are found. We were traveling to cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles, which are huge meccas for food trucks, and the only way to figure out where they are is to follow them on Twitter.
We made grilled cheese a lot in college and always had leftovers so we would play around with different cheeses and breads. When we got married, we took our honeymoon money and transferred it into a food truck instead of taking a trip. It took off from there. We never thought we’d be in the restaurant industry, and now here we are five years later!
You call your food “an experience.” What does that mean?
You can get a grilled cheese anywhere. But what makes you excited about going back? It’s the whole experience – the customer service, food trucks, creative concepts and quirky things. For National Grilled Cheese Day, we had a balloon artist, and for a local food truck festival, we handed out O’Cheeze goatee stickers. Our food speaks for itself, but how do you continue to bring people back? It’s with a fun atmosphere and an experience that’s a little more than just going to get food. At the end of the day, everything we’re doing is fun – we’re making grilled cheese and edible cookie dough.
Talk about the decision to open a storefront location for O’Cheeze. How did you know it was the right time?
We were running two food trucks and renting a commissary kitchen, which was very expensive for the amount of prep time we needed. We also didn’t have a central location for the business end of things. We looked at this opportunity in the downtown Minneapolis skyway as a way for us to have a central location for our prep kitchen to support our trucks. The food trucks are still our main focus. What’s nice about the skyway location is that I can get everything prepped here – like all the sauces for the week – because the staff is here. I have my own oven here to braise chicken for nine hours. On top of that, this is our main office.
How did you transition into cookie dough?
That’s a good story. When Haley was pregnant with our first child, she had a massive sweet tooth so we were driving to get donuts every morning. Then we started experimenting with edible cookie dough. We eliminated the eggs and heat pasteurized the flour to make it safe to eat. Fast forward a couple years and we’re trying to build up O’Cheeze’s menu for a dessert option. Finally we thought, ‘Why don’t we throw our cookie dough out there and see what happens?.’ It took off, and we decided we needed to do it in the fashion that we knew and that was a food truck. We tested with customers, drew up the business plan, found financing, decided on a name (Dough Dough), bought a truck and built it out … all in seven weeks! In our first few days with the truck in downtown Minneapolis, we were averaging 500 scoops in two hours. Three weeks after starting the truck, the Mall of America called us and asked if we’d be interested in coming in.
What type of events are the trucks at?
Anything from corporate events to weddings. We run 25-30 events a week out of the O’Cheeze trucks, and about seven out of Dough Dough. During graduation season, we do over 20 parties in three weeks. We’re pretty packed, and that’s the way we like it.
How were you introduced to AmeriPride?
Our General Manager of Operations told us about AmeriPride. In the beginning, we were washing our own rags and it was very inefficient. We actually broke our washer at home from washing such a large amount of rags and aprons. Household washing machines can’t keep up, and then there is the grease. We bought a new washer and dryer and said we’re done doing this ourselves.
How important is it to choose the right vendor partners?
Extremely! The last thing I need to worry about is if our products are going to come to me. I want to find the right vendor and never worry about it again. With our towels, for example, I don’t even think about them. They just show up. With our food suppliers, I want to be able to call them, say I need a delivery for tomorrow, confirm it and be done. Unfortunately, I only have so much time in a day so I need dependable partners. And it’s about efficiency. Time is money when it comes down to it.
What does it mean to you to have a vendor take care of staff apparel and laundering?
Everything is always here, and I never have to worry about it. It’s like a ghost who shows up with a bunch of towels and aprons, and that’s exactly what we need. Our AmeriPride service team regularly asks if our quantities are working. It’s been an easy relationship, and that’s always a good thing.
Photos courtesy of O'Cheeze Restaurant