Meet Campiones Taste Of Chicago of Campiones Taste of Chicago

Today we’d like to introduce you to Campiones Taste Of Chicago

Hi Campiones, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Campione’s was founded in 2008 after our family relocated to Tennessee from the Chicagoland area. Once here, we noticed that there were no hotdog/beef stands or pizza places like the ones we were used to. We opened Campione’s with the concept of a hotdog and Italian Beef stand in mind. Typical restaurants such as these had small menus, typically consisting of Chicago Hotdogs, Italian Beef sandwiches, Pizza Puffs, Polish Sausages and Italian Sausages, with variations of each. We wanted to re-create those menu items and also add our family Italian pasta recipes that we had known and loved. Just last year, we expanded our concept to include Chicago Style Pizza!

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It hasn’t always been easy. Even still, to this day, it is sometimes a hard sell. The Italian Beef sandwich is our most popular food item, yet many new people that venture in are reluctant to try it. An Italian Beef sandwich is made with paper thin shaved roast beef that is seasoned and slowly roasted in it’s own juices. The au jus, or “gravy” as we call it, makes up much of the flavoring of this Chicago staple. The bread used for this sandwich is also of equal importance. It has to be soft enough to melt in your mouth, but dense enough to hold up to the juices of the beef. Layers of beef are placed in the sandwich, and the sandwich is then dipped, or “baptized” in the gravy, so that the flavors of the delectable juices are found in each bite, making this a wet and messy sandwich experience that many people are not used to. You’ve got to use the “Chicago lean” or “Italian Stance” when eating this iconic Chicago delicacy. Roll up the sleeves, lean forward with elbows on the table, and let the juices roll down the arms. We’ve got plenty of napkins! No silverware is needed, although we get many customers that are unfamiliar with the wet sandwich and request them.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Our specialty are food items that originated in the Chicagoland area as well as Italian dishes that go back 5 generations. We’re known for our specialty, the Italian Beef sandwich, along with Chicago staples such as; Chicago Hotdogs, Italian Sausage sandwiches, Polish Sausages, Chicago Style Pizzas, pasta and more. We also utilize our Italian heritage and hand roll our meatballs, hand make our pasta dishes, sauces, cheeses etc. Our original recipes date back to before the early 1960’s and that’s what sets our Italian recipes apart from everyone else. Each of our recipes are carefully crafted daily to give our customers the freshest experience we can provide. Our brand has practically become a household name within the Middle Tennessee area and we want nothing more than to share it everywhere, which is why we are currently focused on growing our brand. We want to be known as the best choice for Italian Beef, Chicago Hotdogs and Chicago Style Pizza anywhere around Nashville. Last year we were recognized by a traveling food show called “America’s Best Restaurants” where they highlighted our homemade food items. We’ve won numerous “best of” awards and have been recognized by Vienna Beef. We are the first and only restaurant in Tennessee to be inducted into the Vienna Beef Hotdog Hall of Fame.

Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
You could say that opening the restaurant in the first place was a huge risk! We are still a foreign concept here in the south. Not many people are familiar with the flavor combinations that make up a Chicago Hotdog. It takes 7 toppings, and NO KETCHUP allowed! The neon green relish on a Chicago Hotdog is often scoffed at and often requested off. However, when we convince people to try it, they love it! We are in the process of taking another huge risk by opening our 2nd location in Mt. Juliet by the summer of 2025! We don’t have the corporate funding of many chain restaurants, so we’re putting up our own funds in order to make it happen.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://campionestasteofchicago.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/campionestasteofchicago
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/tasteofchicago
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/CampionesTN
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/campionestasteofchicago
• Yelp: https://yelp.com/campionestasteofchicago