Charleys Cheesesteaks, officially Charleys Philly Steaks, is an American

restaurant chain A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate many retail markets, dining markets, and service categories in many pa ...

specializing in Philly cheesesteak headquartered in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

. Formerly known as Charley's Steakery and Charley's Grilled Subs, the franchise was established in 1986 on the campus of

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

. By 2017 there were 600 locations in 45 states and in 19 countries. Charleys is believed to have doubled in size in 2021. In addition to traditional Philly cheesesteaks, the chain also has other steak based sandwiches and multiple grilled chicken sandwiches, among other grilled sandwiches.

History

While studying real estate at

Korean American Korean Americans () are Americans of full or partial Korean ethnic descent. While the broader term Overseas Korean in America () may refer to all ethnic Koreans residing in the United States, the specific designation of Korean American impli ...

Charley Shin worked in his mother's Japanese/Korean restaurant in Columbus, Ohio. While taking a trip to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, the Shins took a detour to

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, resulting in Charley's discovery of the Philly cheesesteak. Charley convinced his mother to take a break, sell the restaurant, and invest her life savings of $48,000 in "Charley's," a restaurant across the street from Ohio State's campus.

Gosh Enterprises

Charleys Philly Steaks is a subsidiary of Gosh Enterprises, which is solely owned by Shin. Gosh also owns the Bibibop Asian Grill chain, which had purchased the leases for the defunct ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen chain.

References

;Footnotes ;General sources * * *

External links

Official website
Companies based in the Columbus, Ohio metropolitan area Fast-food franchises Restaurants in Ohio Submarine sandwich restaurants Fast casual restaurants Fast-food chains of the United States Restaurants established in 1986 1986 establishments in Ohio American companies established in 1986 {{US-restaurant-stub