May 11 will mark the two-week anniversary for sandwich shop Goodcents Deli Fresh Subs in Iowa City.
Goodcents is a chain shop with locations mainly in the Midwest region. The shop at 316 E. Burlington St. is the first brought to Iowa.
Franchiser Tanner Hansen previously owned a pizza restaurant in Iowa City. After he sold his business, he knew he wanted to start another in the area. In January, he decided to make Goodcents local.
“Sandwiches are a big growing part of the food industry right now,” Hansen said. “Ours are a little more different.”
One unique feature Goodcents offers is its soft bread, compared with a French bread that other shops offer, Hansen said.
Customers can choose a white, wheat, or multigrain sub that comes in 4, 8, 12, or 16 inches.
The bread takes 40 to 90 minutes to rise and another 15 to 20 minutes to bake.
Hansen said one other standout feature is how Goodcents slice its meats in front of a customer, per order. Once the meat is sliced, the rest goes back in the cooler until the next person orders.
“[This is] compared with some places that slice the meat first thing in the morning or that come in preprocessed,” he said. “It’s for freshness, more like a deli, hence the name.”
Like the pasta cooked in boiled water, soup, and fresh-baked cookies that the business sells, the bread is made twice a day or after 20 hours after the last batch was made.
One local employee from the sandwich shop Subway, 127 E. Washington St., said he is not worried about competition from Goodcents.
“There are a lot of sandwich places in Iowa City,” Ben East said. “I’m not that concerned.”
Goodcents offers delivery via its own drivers, dine-in seating, pickup ordering, catering, and online and phone-in orders.
University of Iowa sophomore Andrew Rausch enjoyed his second sandwich at Goodcents on Monday. He said he would likely a repeat customer.
He ordered the same sandwich that he did less than a week before and said the business “looked nice” and the food was good, so it was worth a second try.
“The way they slice their meat [makes Goodcents unique],” he said. “I don’t think a lot of places do that. It tastes a lot fresher.”
The opening of this franchise came in a perfect time for the summer, Hansen said.
“More people eat cold sandwiches — or sandwiches in general — during the summer than what they would in the middle of winter,” he said. “I think we’re in a good location. There’s a lot of foot traffic and road traffic.”