About the only thing Jimmy Seidel had when he moved from Chicago to Boulder, Colorado, 30 years ago was a business plan for a sandwich concept and $65,000 in the bank. That, plus a remarkable amount of faith that he could create a better restaurant.
He certainly didn’t have any restaurant experience. When he got to Boulder he poured everything into his idea, including every cent of that bank account. Seidel had to borrow money from his skeptical parents just to pay rent.
Seidel’s first site was a 650-square-foot “shack” badly in need of just about everything. Oh, and about a half-dozen restaurants had moved into that shack over the previous decade, only to close.
“Everybody said it was a cursed location,” Seidel said in an interview.
Naturally, Seidel’s restaurant, Snarf’s Sandwiches, broke even from Day 1. Fast-forward to 2025, and that tiny shack has evolved into one of the country’s fastest-growing restaurant chains and made its debut on the Technomic Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report.
Snarf’s finished 2024 with 47 locations—it now has 50—while system sales grew 53% to $75 million.
Perhaps more impressively is the way it’s stood out in the sandwich sector. Total sandwich chain sales last year declined 0.4%, according to data from Restaurant Business sister company Technomic.
Among quick-service sandwich brands like Snarf’s, total sales declined 3.25%. It’s not just Subway, either. The median sales change last year in the fast-food sandwich space was a decline of 3%.
All of which makes Snarf’s performance stand out. And it validates the reason Seidel packed his things in a 1980 Cadillac Seville and made the 15-hour drive to Colorado. “I thought I could make a better sandwich than was out there,” Seidel said.
But first he had to overcome his own inexperience and an awful lot of doubt.
“I’ve always had a lot of ideas. This is the first one I’ve had that’s really had any measure of success.” -Jimmy Seidel.
The idea man
Seidel grew up in St. Louis. And in high school he frequented a local sandwich shop that specialized in roast beef sandwiches. “I thought, ‘I bet we could open up 1,000 of these,’” Seidel said. “It’s always been on my mind.”
But he also liked food in general and felt that opening a restaurant would be a great idea. “It was always very important to me,” he said. “When I sat down to lunch I was thinking about dinner. When I was at breakfast I was thinking of lunch. I thought I could do that.”
It would take time, however. Seidel had settled in Chicago, where he spent a decade working as a market maker.
He kept coming back to his dream of opening a restaurant. “I just didn’t enjoy that life,” he said.
Seidel wasn’t sure what kind of restaurant he wanted to open. He thought about a fine-dining restaurant but also wanted something he could expand. When he started crafting his business plan, he settled on a sandwich concept.
His parents were skeptical. And they had good reason. “I’ve always had a lot of ideas,” Seidel said. “This is the first one I’ve had that’s really had any measure of success.”
He initially looked around the Chicago area for a site for his restaurant. But Seidel didn’t quite have the resources he needed to open a restaurant there. He also felt the need for a change of scenery.
“Boulder is a beautiful spot, with a lot of outdoor activity,” Seidel said.
The shack
Seidel would name is concept Snarf’s, his nickname in college. He had an artist friend draw some of the artwork used in the restaurant’s branding.
He worked for a few months in sandwich restaurants learning what it took to do the job. He worked with a bakery on the recipe for the fresh-baked bread he would use in the restaurant.
And he also developed the recipes from memory. “I remembered every great sandwich I ever had, and I pretty much put them on the menu,” Seidel said.
That includes his favorite: The Hot Dog, Bacon and Cheese sandwich.
“It was one of my father’s favorite sandwiches,” Seidel said, though the elder Seidel made them on a hamburger bun.
Seidel then looked for a location and came across the “shack.” It wasn’t in good shape. “It was a dingy little hole,” he said. “It hadn’t had a coat of paint on it in five-six, maybe 10 years,” he said.
But he also saw something in the building. It was in the middle of town, on Pearl Street, for one thing. “It had potential,” Seidel said. “It just needed some love and a lot of elbow grease.”
Seidel did a lot of the work to spruce it up and make the location look colorful and “eyecatching,” including much of the demolition work and the painting. “Anything I could get away with,” he said.
But the location was tiny. It featured doors on both sides, a front counter and no seating other than a few barstools.
The menu featured about a dozen sandwiches, all of which remain on the menu today, such as an Italian, Roast Beef, Egg Salad and Tuna. They come in three sizes, from five to 12 inches, and are toasted.
Seidel used guerilla marketing to get people in. He printed menus and delivered them door-to-door and put them on windshields. It was enough to get business in the door when he finally opened in 1996.
Jimmy Seidel with some of his sandwiches.
Hard work
Opening a restaurant is a lot of work. And Seidel’s career as a restaurant owner was just beginning.
“I did a lot of the work myself,” he said. “Open to close, for two-to-three years at least, seven days a week. I had to miss some pretty big things in my family because of that.”
“It’s all been worth it, for sure,” he added. “I’ve never regretted anything.”
Seidel also realizes that hard work alone doesn’t guarantee success. He mentioned “luck” multiple times during an interview. And when we asked him to give advice for aspiring restaurateurs he turned more skeptical, acknowledging the difficulty of getting a restaurant off the ground.
“I would tell you not to go into the restaurant business,” he said. “There are much better businesses to get into. We’ve been very lucky.
“I am certain there are people out there that have more knowledge and are more prepared than I was. It’s a very tough business.”
Still, the restaurant would become a local favorite and drew plenty of customers. “Even that first year we opened in the late spring of 96, people would be standing out in the snow and rain waiting to get in the door,” Seidel said. That commitment and reception made him realize the brand was a success.
It would take about five years for Snarf’s to open its second location. That one would be bigger. “The second location was seven times larger,” he said. “From day one we were bursting at the seams. It just took off from there.”
Today, Snarf’s operates like most growth chains. It has catering, mobile ordering and a loyalty program. Its menu features salads and smaller sandwiches for kids. The company has added a few options since, such as a brisket sandwich and a New York Steak sandwich.
Search the website and you will find a secret “Not on the Menu” featuring sandwiches created by customers and team members over the years, such as the German Dog featuring a hot dog, bacon, Swiss cheese, mayo, mustard, horseradish, sauerkraut, onions, hot peppers and Parmesan. There’s also the Buffalo Chicken Sandwich with rotisserie chicken, cheese, lettuce, tomato, bleu cheese dressing and Frank’s hot sauce.
The brand has locations in Colorado, Missouri and Texas. The chain plans to open another 10 locations this year, meaning its growth is likely to continue.
And while Seidel may warn others about the work involved in getting that crazy idea off the ground, he also doesn’t regret the move, or all that work.
“It’s been the joy of my life,” he said.