Cheesesteak Day 2023

Helping Put the “National” in National Cheesesteak Day

If you love cheesesteaks, chances are you’ve tasted Original Philly® beef or chicken—though you may not even know it. Since the brand was founded in 1981 as The Original Philadelphia Cheesesteak Company, its sliced steak products have been in the middle of countless sandwiches worldwide.

Original Philly brand, as it’s known today, is also at the heart of the cheesesteak’s rise from culinary treat to cultural sensation.

Philadelphia was buzzing back in the 1970s and ’80s, around America’s Bicentennial, sports teams’ supremacy, and the first few Rocky movies. And more and more restaurants, pizza shops, delis, and bars were adding “steaks” to their menus. For operators, getting the bread and cheese was easy. But the meat had to be sourced, delivered regularly, and then seasoned, sliced, and chopped— forcefully—on the grill.

Recognizing the business challenges that threatened soaring demand, neighborhood pals Nicholas Karamatsoukas and George Kontodemos saw opportunity all around their hometown. From a garage in the city’s Roxborough section, the partners started producing and supplying sliced beef made just for cheesesteaks.

Confident from the start, Karamatsoukas—aka “Mr. Nick”—predicted, “The Philadelphia Steak Sandwich will someday be as popular and frequently ordered as the hamburger, and Original Philly brand will be one of the reasons why.”

His vision was bold, yet even Nick himself may not have imagined such a thing as National Cheesesteak Day. Celebrated on March 24th each year, the “holiday” attracts fans, news stories, promotions and giveaways, college hoops-style brackets and eating competitions, an avalanche of selfies and social media posts, and more.

Original Philly brand has helped drive the popularity of the cheesesteak’s big day, too. In addition to partnering with the foodservice community to satisfy consumers’ cravings for authentic beef and chicken ‘steaks, the brand has created everything from a Cheesesteak Personality quiz, to “The Legend of the Philly Cheesesteak” micro-documentary historical video, to a Google Maps-powered Cheesesteak Finder, to a downloadable Graphics Kit to help eateries spread the word.

The brand’s energy and innovative spirit traces back to its roots. With an engineering degree plus hands-on foodservice experience in his native Greece as well as the States, Mr. Nick built his own slicers and innovated blast freezing techniques and equipment. The team eventually developed an entirely new manufacturing process, pioneering a unique and coveted format of sliced beef (and later chicken) that came to be known as “chunked and formed” products.

The mission of the brand’s founders was to make it easy for foodservice operators anywhere to serve authentic Philly-style cheesesteaks with the very best flavor, quality, and consistency. The revolutionary Original Philly chunked and formed sliced steak—featuring the brand’s signature seasoning and flavor profiles—was the key to achieving that mission. And it helped make the cheesesteak boom that Nick envisioned a reality, a surge that has continued for decades.

The growth hasn’t just pushed beyond the Delaware Valley, but into non-traditional markets across the U.S. and in dozens of countries. Original Philly brand is trusted by a multitude of small, local establishments, as well as larger operations including schools, healthcare facilities, entertainment venues, global restaurant chains, and so on.

Today, while the cheesesteak is as synonymous with the City of Philadelphia as Ben Franklin and the Liberty Bell, it’s served (and adored) far and wide. And Original Philly brand is now part of the foodservice division of Tyson Foods, contributing to the company’s #81 ranking on the 2022 Forbes 500 list as the second-largest meat processor in the world.

And so this Friday we celebrate National Cheesesteak Day 2023—in Philly, naturally—but also from coast to coast, acknowledging the once-local fave that has emerged as one of the country’s most iconic foods.

—

It’s go-time! Be ready for the busy spring/summer season.