We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ben Cutler. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ben below.

Alright, Ben thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. One of the most important things we can do as business owners is ensure that our customers feel appreciated. What’s something you’ve done or seen a business owner do to help a customer feel valued?

There is no best thing. To me it’s about doing the little things, going the extra mile, and executing on those standards every time. On one occasion, a woman asked me for an egg salad sandwich. We don’t offer egg salad, but I told the woman that If she had 15 minutes, I could do it. So I ran to our downstairs cooler (where we store our eggs), brought them back up, boiled them, cooled them, made an egg salad, and made it a sandwich for the woman. On another occasion, a gentleman asked if we had pesto. We didn’t have any as it is not on our permanent menu. But I had the stuff, so again I asked if he could spare a few minutes. In short order I had the pesto he was hoping for. A woman once asked me if her $7.00 was enough for a sandwich. It’s not even close, but I said yes it is because it’s not always about the money. There are some regular customers who always ask me for something way out of the bounds of our menu. I go out of my way to create what they’re hoping for if I can. I offer anything I have to our customers, and if we have it in house, customers can have it on their sandwich. There are no limitations on that. I have delivered trays of sandwiches to groups who don’t have a big budget like the senior center, the high school drama club, and others. I give to the community by supporting local first responders with a very special price for their sandwiches. I sponsor town events, I truly enjoy feeding people and making them feel welcome. there is no best thing. It’s all the things, and at XR, it’s everything.

For additional context, I think my Google reviews tell a pretty good story.

Ben, 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?

I have been cooking professionally since 1996, and have learned from every single thing I have done, been shown, did wrong, etc. I have learned lessons from dishwashing and cleaning to preparing intricate menu items at top tier restaurants.

My first restaurant job was actually in 1986 when I was a busboy at a local sports bar. It was kind of dingy, and the staff was a bunch of misfits who somehow all meshed together. It was like a family. A dysfunctional family, to be sure, but it was a real bond. And when I was accepted as one of theirs, I was hooked. The bustle, the irreverence toward normalcy, the caustic behavior, the laughs; they all brought an energy that felt right. I didn’t have any work in restaurants after that one until I decided to go to cooking school. Working while schooling was the real education. I continued to drink in as much knowledge as I could from the cooks and chefs who trained (and hazed) me. Their creativity, their scars from years on the line, their broad knowledge about so many different foods and cooking styles. My passion grew from there.

Through my career I have cooked at many fine dining restaurants, as well as more casual eateries. I have also managed two large corporate catering companies overseeing all staff as well as quality control and general operations. My career has taken me from MA, to FL, to Vieques, to CA, and back to MA. The more seasoned I became, the more I began to develop my own style. Simple foods executed flawlessly and with a twist. I often thought how unique it would be to take the most celebrated food and inject it with the knowledge I have gathered through my career. The genesis of XR was actually as a BBQ sauce company, but when I was approached about a new building looking for a foodservice tenant. I said I would consider a sandwich shop, which was one of their top choices for the space.

The menu I created for XR Sandwiches is both simple, and unique. We have a ham and cheese sandwich that often tops our daily sales. We use Black Forest Ham, aged cheddar, smoked apple butter, chipotle mayo, and lettuce, served on a huge Scali roll. But at the end of the day, it’s a ham and cheese. I also wanted to create something specific for vegetarians and vegans. I feel like those groups often get the short end of the stick from a creativity standpoint. Many foodservice operations don’t consider those customers carefully, so they end up serving lettuce, tomato, and onion between bread. Or a plate of steamed broccoli. Or whatever is easy and has no meat. So I created the Forager. It always has our cured tomato spread, aged cheddar (or vegan cheese if desired) sauteed mushrooms and red onions. I then add whatever fresh veggies I can get from the local farm.

The XR brand is synonymous with quality and service. Our model focuses heavily on the whole customer experience including counter staff interaction, accuracy and detailed order completion, and consistently high-quality food. Every staff member is empowered to do whatever it takes to make sure a customer never leaves unsatisfied. Our sandwiches earned a second place for best sandwiches on the south shore – we had been open three months at the time. XR demands a positive, inclusive, and motivating environment in the workplace. This is addressed at the beginning of employment and nothing less is acceptable. Settling for nothing less than our best effort in all regards is what sets us apart from the competition. It’s a lost art.

I am most proud of the fact that I was able to get up and running, curate an incredible staff of diligent, kind, friendly, and fun staff. I did it without compromise on anything, even when compromising could have been so tempting. All of that translates directly to customer satisfaction.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

XR Sandwiches opened it’s doors on a Monday with only a couple of high school students as employees. By no fault of their own, the contributions they were allowed to make were limited due to age restrictions. Now, I had been trying to field a roster, but was having very little luck, and as it stood, I had a sandwich shop with elevated concepts that required a lot of in-house prep, and effectively zero employees. So I opened. I had no choice. My back was to the wall with loan payments, rent, etc., and I needed cash flow immediately. I was pretty anxious about the position I was in, and it really felt like this was going to be a disaster. So I spent the weekend, roasting, slicing, and prepping every single ingredient. I went over my inventory top to bottom. I checked internet connections and the POS. I got myself as ready as I possibly could, so I could attempt to handle opening day. When Monday arrived, I was exhausted. I had worked from 7:00AM to 2:00AM for three days straight to get ready. And then I opened. It was, as expected, very busy. The project had been held up for months, so the local residents were excited to try it out. I made every sandwich as fast as I could, and it was seemingly endless. When it was over, and time to clean up, I thought wow; there is no way on this earth I can do that much longer. The next day a woman came in to apply for one of the counter positions I had available. I liked her immediately. She had a casual, but friendly personality. To me, that was perfect for the friendly environment I wanted to project. She had no experience in sandwich making, but she did work as an airline attendant. My immediate thought was “she can handle stressful situations with composure. Check.” The next two days were busy, but surprisingly smooth. Then came Friday. It was 10:56, and a friend of mine came in to get our PBLT (pork belly sandwich). I went to the kitchen to make his sandwich and decided to give him a little extra pork belly. It’s important to remember that I was beyond exhausted. to the point I was on autopilot. When I brought the knife down through the pork belly, I had lazily left my thumb exposed. I went right through the top of my thumb, and watched the tip, still in the end of the glove, fall to the floor. Then I looked at my thumb. And I walked out and looked at the line. And then at my brand new employee, and drove myself to the hospital where I was bandaged up. Miraculously, the day had gone pretty well. Folks were seemingly happy to be part of the “beginning story” of XR, and my employee demonstrated the poise of a flight attendant, just as I expected – just not that soon! The next couple of days were tough with my thumb all bandaged up. Then on Wednesday of the second week, I got the flu and could not manage to get myself up. I began to get really anxious. The first impression is tough to overcome if it’s bad. I was the only one who even knew the vision of the business, and was terrified that I wouldn’t be able to get off on the right foot if I couldn’t take the helm. I was able to get back to the shop a couple days later and dive right back in. Struggling to get even more prep done now because of the lost two days, I was starting to lose steam. Just then another applicant came through the door. She was a perfect fit just like the first one. She had a great attitude, and was willing to be a rounds style employee. She quickly learned the sandwiches, all the prep, and the hot line. So things were smooth for another week. And then a cut on my food got severely infected requiring a little procedure, antibiotics, and another day off my feet – sidelined. I was feeling tremendously beaten up, but I knew this wasn’t something you can hope your way out of. So I got up once again, and we’ve been getting better every day since. I felt like I was getting knocked down every time I got up, and in the compressed and intensely stressful timeframe, it really began to take a toll. I never doubted that I would give it my best effort, but I was wondering if my best effort was going to be enough. So far, it has been.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Our reputation at XR is something I value tremendously. I have worked extremely hard to curate the right staff, create the highest quality food, and deliver flawless service to our customers. I collaborate with my staff on ways to serve our customers, but also the community. We support a local little league team, we deliver trays of food to local organizations like the senior center, the local animal shelter, first responders, and more, and we provide donations for the causes important to community. I try to keep all of my staff involved in as much as they want in an effort to breed an “owner’s mentality.” I think the biggest hurdle is having the staff who will interact with customers in a genuinely positive way. That’s why I hire more on personality and soft skills than experience. When customers receive positive, friendly service from everyone, it gets noticed. And that’s what people notice at XR. Folks who have visited know that we will make anything they want if we have the ingredients. And we get tested. I’ve made everything from a burrito, to fresh pesto, and many things in between, and I’ve done them on the spot to give the customer what they were hoping for. It’s no easy task in the middle of service, but that’s why it’s exceptional. Our style of bending to the customers’ desires really resonates in a world of “we don’t make that here.” The volume of customers who come in from a friend’s recommendation is growing by the day, and we often hear they were told it was a great experience. And because we deliver that experience every time, our reputation associates closely with quality for our customers. XR is now well known for quality and service, and it’s because we provide a consistent and positive experience from beginning to end.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.xrsandwiches.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thelinecook/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/XRBBQ