Lunch Combo with Free Sauces

Our first special in the shop at Mad Munch was the "Lunch Combo."  Looking back now, it was quite a steal- not quite the loss-leader that 2 for $1 Grilled Cheeses at Lincoln College in 2003 were but it did create a buzz for us on Newport Avenue.

Tuesday-Friday from 11am-4pm with any Cheezer purchase you could get any side (at the time it was either curly fries or tomato soup) & a 12oz can of soda for only $2 more.  So if you were on the cheap, you could get an All-American grilled cheese, curly fries & a Coke for $8 total!

During that summer of 2019, Kate was experimenting with dipping sauces.  She had her Ranch down to a science, but was busy working on perfecting a cheese sauce.  My favorite variation was when she minced up pepperoncini peppers & made a "Pepperon-Cheesy Sauce."  

And, were so new to the restaurant & sauce game that we gave away sauces for free, upon request!  I remember a nice young couple with a dog that howled, who would always order the lunch combo with a Katers Taters, no sour cream, curly fries, a Root Beer & ask for three sides of ranch.  They came in at least once a week, taking full advantage of what we later realized was an oversight on our part.

When I worked at Jimmy John's, a decade earlier, we never charged for certain add-on toppings they proudly called, "Freebies" on their menu.  I learned a lot about the sandwich business in the ten months I worked there, so I thought, we could do the same thing.  

I was wrong.

After a few months of adding free tomatoes, dill pickles & chives to our Cheezers out of the goodness & naivety of our hearts, we realized that everything costs money.  Including the labor that it took Kate to make that delicious house ranch-dressing & the little cups & lids that temporarily housed it.

So, we started charging fifty cents for each sauce & each veggie add-on.  It made sense (cents) to us.  While some of our customers complained & never returned, I took comfort in knowing that we only have one location, not over 2,700 locations across America like Jimmy John's does these days.