Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Alissa Marcolongo. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alissa , appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I was cooking one morning at the diner when a man came in and sat at the breakfast counter. He began telling me about this little shop he had just opened with his wife. It was a simple GrabNGo concept. It got me thinking, this idea is small and manageable, has little to no overhead, is still in the industry, is Covid friendly, a fun concept and will give us some quality of life back. So, my husband Mark and I began to put it all together and make it our reality. We started by coming up with a name, finding a location, choosing our products and creating a theme.

Finally, we put it all together and created this very colorful, inviting, put a smile on your face, little Sandwich shop in Nokomis, FL named ‘WICHES!

So, what we are is a small GrabNGo concept promoting a 1970’s flare. Our wall are painted in retro rainbow colors, our shelves holding toys and collectibles from the 70’s, you are sure to smile when you walk in our door. Every ‘WICH comes with a piece of Bazooka Joe gum, comic included. We make four different meat sand’WICHES. (bologna, turkey, ham, & roast beef) they are all made the same way on different breads. Keeping up with the 70’s theme, each ‘WICH is made on your choice of classic Wonder white, wheat, rye or a Philadelphia kaiser roll, all ‘WICHES are made with a light spread of mustard, Kraft American Cheese, a crispy pair of dill pickles, about a quarter pound of meat, some Duke’s mayonnaise and some cracked black pepper, all come together and make this Simply Delicious sand’WICH.

We also have a chicken salad’WICH made with hand pulled roasted chicken, fresh crisp celery and onions, a mayonnaise base, some secret seasoning and a whole lotta love. A customer favorite!

Don’t eat meat? We offer a fresh veggie ‘WICH that is deliciously made with a lemon avocado spread that I make every morning, two thinly sliced cucumbers, thinly sliced tomato’s, some fresh red onion, a generous spread of organic hummus, some cracked black pepper on soft Natures Own Honey Wheat bread.

Want a perfect no carb friendly snack? Our Italian Hoagie spread is one of a kind. its an Italian Hoagie without the bread or lettuce all chopped up in this amazing party in your mouth spread. A crowd pleaser for sure.

‘WICHES is most know for our simple GrabNGo concept, the friendly conversation when you walk in the door and of course how delicious these little in between ingredients make our “WICHES. Our Google and Facebook reviews speak for themselves. With all of our “WICHES made fresh in house every morning to provide the freshest tastiest sand’WICH experience made with the top quality meats and cheese sliced thin every day. Each ‘WICH is wrapped and ready for you to GrabNGo for your day’s adventures.

Alissa , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My previous career was in Property Management, I spent twenty-Five (25) years in the industry, ending my career as a Vice President of Operations. The industry was not “doing” it for me any longer, I wanted out. I wanted a simpler, more rewarding, less stressful life. So, I walked away from my career, put myself back in school to finish my BA in Psychology and started serving at a local hot spot. It was the most fun I have ever had working. I was able to be myself, meet new people, and set my own schedule. During this time a friend came to me with an opportunity to buy into a small diner with him and become partners. The hard work started, right away, working seven days a week over a hundred hours a week, exhausted, dealing with employees and lack thereof, cooking, scheduling, filling in where there were voids. I was working so much and so hard that it started to become less gratifying. I was back where I was before working all hours, exhausted and working the jobs of five (5) people. It was also tough time in the world, Covid-19 was just hitting everyone everywhere. Then everything shut down. We had to close our doors for two months. During the closing period I had a lot of time to think about what I wanted in my future. I knew I wanted to make people feel good, live a simpler life one that I could enjoy with little stress, I knew that if I was going to work that hard on something that I wanted to do it myself and not have partners. I love the industry and was talking through all my options, I needed to make a change.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Social media has been huge for ‘WICHES! At the beginning I would post pictures, give a little caption and use as many hashtags as possible. I realized that people LOVE watching not just reading or looking at pictures. I started posting videos of us cutting meat, making ‘WICHES, little commercials staring my husband and me, etc. we went from 90 to 100 views to over 6,000 views in a matter of weeks!

My best advice would be to make your social media fun and engaging, ask questions, post at least three times a day, make it personal, use your customers for posts (of course with their permission), make videos, do reels, add to your story. The more interesting and creative you make your post the more people are going to want to see whats going on with your business. Good Luck!

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Opening up during a world wide pandemic is not the easiest thing to do. Not only did we open during the Covid-19 Delta variant, My husband Mark and I got covid and had to shut down for two weeks only 60 days after we opened, we were also dealing with a “Red Tide” which prevented people from going to the beaches and enjoying the outdoors. This really set us back a lot. It was a very stressful time financially, mentally, physically and emotionally. We essentially had to re-open ‘WICHES and start all over again. The only thing we could do is to keep pushing forward in hopes that things would work out positively, boy did we keep pushing, we went out marketing heavy on foot visiting businesses big and small businesses, giving away hundreds of “WICHES. After a tough first year we are happy to say all of our hard work and persistence is paying off. We are getting stronger everyday thanks to an amazing community and a loyal customer following. We are truly blessed.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.wichesfl.com
• Instagram: @wiches_nokomis
• Facebook: @wichesnokomis
• Other: Phone : 941-303-6111