FOOD & DRINK FEATURE
Pop-up pandemonium
WHIZ KIDS
How Cheat’s Cheesesteaks went from pop-up to permanent home
Pg. 16 JULY 13 - JULY 26, 2022 - QCNERVE.COM
BY KARIE SIMMONS
Something caught the corner of my eye while I was standing in the kitchen of Cheat’s Cheesesteak Parlor’s new brick-and-mortar location on Pecan Avenue talking to co-founders Ryan Hart and Greg Balch about the restaurant’s early days as a pop-up: A man was approaching the walk-up window. This is going to be awkward, I thought. Does he know it’s not open yet? He looks excited. He’s going to be so let down! Did he drive far to come here or was he just passing by? My mind ran through all the ways this scenario could go, then Balch leaned coolly out the window like he’d done this before. “Hey man, I’m sorry. We’re not open yet,” he said. “Next Wednesday. Come back and see us.” I cringed, waiting for the hope to drain from the man’s face and a wave of disappointment to wash over, but it didn’t — at least not as much as I expected. Instead, he perked up when Balch told him Cheat’s would start churning out cheesesteaks on Wednesday, July 13. He was just happy to hear it was opening. Balch and Hart have been fielding a steady stream of would-be customers over the past few weeks as excitement and anticipation builds for Cheat’s, known for hosting sold-out pop-ups at local breweries and Panthers games, to open its permanent home. Even on the street, the two told me drivers beep their horns daily and shout as they pass by the new spot, which is situated next to Villani’s Bakery and Rico’s Acai, just at the border of Elizabeth and Plaza Midwood. “I’m like, dude, are we like The Beatles, what’s happening here? This is the craziest thing,” Hart said. “We’re just a bunch of kitchen people and bartenders.” Hart, Balch and Hannah Smith created the concept for Cheat’s Cheesesteak Parlor while working together at The Crunkleton in Elizabeth during the pandemic — eventually bringing on fellow industry professionals Jonathan Tiernan, Tom Willoughby and chef Travis Fisher. Though they came out of a renowned cocktail bar, these kitchen workers and bartenders have shown a
talent for cultivating a different kind of buzz. Since the first pop-up at Birdsong Brewing in November 2020, Cheat’s has amassed more than 13,000 followers on Instagram and sold more than 10,000 cheesesteaks, including chicken, vegan and the classic “Whiz Wit” — their take on the south Philadelphia icon made with certified never-frozen Black Angus top round steak, grilled onions and gooey Cheez Whiz. That’s all before they even fire up the flat top, slide open the walk-up window and take orders from their first customers on July 13. “I always look at people like, ‘Cheesesteaks, huh? Who would’ve thought?’” Hart said. “I had no idea it would ever turn into this viral sensation like it did.”
Once Hart, Balch and Smith decided on making cheesesteaks their focus, they pitched their idea to the partners at The Crunkleton, who agreed to invest in the business under the 1957 Hospitality Group umbrella. The restaurant group is known for The Crunkleton, which has locations in Chapel Hill, Charlotte and a third opening in Raleigh; but will also run Rosemont Market and Wine Bar, opening this fall at Elizabeth on Seventh. When they launched Cheat’s in November 2020, Smith was The Crunkleton’s general manager, Hart was bar manager and Balch was the executive chef. The trio’s new pop-up series, which they agreed to do only on their days off, was meant to drive a little interest in the business and cultivate a taste for Cheez Whiz while they worked on a permanent location. The team quickly saw more than a little interest, with cheesesteak pre-orders selling out days before the pop-ups, which would then regularly sell out from walk-ups. They brought on Tiernan, Fisher, Willoughby and others to help handle the demand. Due to their schedules at The Crunkleton, Hart said the team members couldn’t host pop-ups as frequently as they wanted, but that ended up being a blessing in disguise. “We were held back by our other job and looking
back, it’s definitely a key to our success,” Hart said. “The temptation — you rip a massive pop-up and it’s like, ‘Let’s do this again tomorrow!’ So it kind of saved us from ourselves.” In the days and weeks between pop-ups, demand for the cheesesteaks grew. So did Cheat’s social media following, as customers waited with baited breath for the location of the next pop-up to be revealed. Cheat’s originally planned to open permanently on Pecan Avenue in late summer 2021, but the work to renovate the former hair salon into a cheesesteak parlor, plus all the necessary permitting, site work and variances, took longer than expected. They kept the pop-ups going in the meantime, which only continued to grow their customer base. The pandemonium eventually caught the attention of the Carolina Panthers and Levy Restaurants, which runs concessions at Bank of America Stadium. They booked Cheat’s to cook cheesesteaks outside the stadium for a few games. Hart said it wasn’t until they started doing the pop-ups that they realized just how many Mid-Atlantic transplants live in Charlotte. Cheez Whiz was apparently already running through the veins of the Queen City. “So many people thanked us and told us our cheesesteaks reminded them of home and all of a
CHEAT’S WHIZ WIT IS MADE WITH CERTIFIED BLACK ANGUS TOP ROUND STEAK, GRILLED ONIONS AND CHEEZ WHIZ.
PHOTO BY STEVEN KEY
