The Hoagieville Story

In 1981 Nick Alonzo was working as a sales rep at Coca Cola when he decided to go into business with another Coke employee. They converted the old Sharpe’s A&W on South Higgins into the first Hoagieville. Back then it was called Sharpe’s Hoagieville USA.

Nick eventually bought out Anderson and, meanwhile, had reconnected with his childhood buddy, Bob Powell, who was his food sales rep at Sheehan Majestic. It was during their Tuesday visits that the two rekindled their friendship and realized that all of their similarities extended beyond their friendship and that they had similar business interests.

In the meantime George Lambros, one of the owners of Southgate Mall and a regular at Sharpe’s and the original Hoagieville, brought up the idea of putting a second restaurant in the mall. And that’s when Bob and Nick became partners, with Bob running the mall Hoagieville and Nick staying at the South Higgins branch. It was 1985. The third Hoagieville was established in 1988 on West Broadway, ironically in another A&W location and another when the Artic Circle became available on Reserve in 2007. Even though Hoagieville now has four locations, it has stayed true to its original menu of Hoagies and Cheese fries.

A Tale of Cheese Fries

So, where did the idea for those cheese fries come from? Well, back

in the 80s five Hellgate High School students who were carhops at

Hoagieville developed a taste for taco cheese on top of their seasoned fries.

They liked them so much, in fact, that they’d make a trip to Hoagieville during

school lunch breaks to satisfy their cravings. They soon told their friends and

Hoagieville began to get requests for cheese fries--so many that cheese fries

soon became a part of the menu!

The Hoagieville Logo

Back in the 80s a local high school student, a regular at Hoagieville, brought an artistic buddy in to meet Nick and Bob. He sat down and created a few caricatures sketches right then and there. Nick and Bob liked the sketches so much that they paid him $20 (a fair price back in the 80s!) and have stuck with the logo art ever since.