Lewiston vs. Philly, Round Two.

As everyone knows by now, there is a rivalry brewing over a sandwich, and it's happening right here in Lewiston, Idaho of all places. On Saturday, August 22nd, we're going to out-cheesesteak the city that invented the cheesesteak. AGAIN. Happy Day Restaurants is once again partnering with the Boys and Girls Club to break a world record for the longest line of philly cheesesteaks. It's a rematch that's about three years in the making, but there's a bigger story here that seems to be getting lost in the headlines.

This event was originally intended to be a one off, there was never a set plan for a sequel. In 2023, we had planned on breaking the record, raising money for our local families and children, hanging the certificate on the wall, and moving on with our lives. That lasted about two years. This past March, ON National Cheesesteak Day, Philadelphia National Airport assembled a line of 1,291 individual cheesesteaks inside a departure hall. 225 pounds of cheese sauce, 990 pounds of shaved ribeye, and over 1,200 rolls. 18 restaurants collaborated to make this happen. A bunch of restaurants came together to effectively win the title. The message was togetherness and we do recognize this accomplishment and applaud it.

Now the part that is seemingly getting lost under the headlines: this year's attempt is actually a stress test for the entire local food system. Happy Day Restaurants has spent the last several years building out Happy Day Local, which consists of a USDA certified butcher shop, bakery, and a direct purchasing program designed to connect regional farmers and producers directly with local buyers.

We know that sounds heavy and complex, but it's a mission based on our community's history. Less than 100 years ago, the Lewiston Orchards were a thriving fruit growing district. Local farms helped feed the valley! Over time, that system has faded as food production and distribution have become more centralized. Happy Day Local is a bet that it doesn't have to stay that way.

Instead of relying entirely on traditional food service distributors like US Foods and Sysco, Happy Day has been working directly with regional growers to create more consistent purchasing opportunities. This sounds like a relatively simple plan, but you have to understand that the biggest challenge that small and medium sized farms face is finding someone to reliably buy what you grow. Some people think the problem is growing the food, but it's actually selling it.

Wholesale purchasing can be extremely unpredictable. A commonly used model is just-in-time, which basically entails that farmers and producers list what they have available and restaurants or consumers will buy just what they need for that week. The problem this poses is that farmers have to be planning months in advance. How much to grow, what to plant, how much labor they'll need, etc without knowing where their food will go once it's harvested. This is the equation that Happy Day Local strives to change.

What went into the sandwich

The cheesesteak is where this bet gets fully put on display. This year's sandwich isn't just made up of whatever we could find, the ingredients are intentional.

• 1,350 footlong rolls, baked by Happy Day Local's own bakery using regeneratively grown grain from Uhlhorn Family Farms in Cottonwood, ID.
• 360 pounds of beef will come from Big Canyon Beef in Peck, Idaho. The original plan called for all 720 pounds to be locally raised, but this summer's heat has made it difficult to process more than two cows a week without compromising meat quality.
This was combined with reduced crew capacity from recent retirements and staff who've been busy preparing meals for local firefighters.
• The remaining 360 pounds came from an outside supplier, though every pound, local and supplemented alike, was processed through Happy Day Local's USDA-certified butcher shop.
• More than 275 pounds each of onions and peppers, grown in and around the LC Valley.
• Nearly 64 gallons of cheese sauce.

None of these ingredients had to be sourced locally. It would genuinely be easier, and cheaper, to order 1,350 generic rolls and a few hundred pounds of commodity beef from a national foodservice supplier and call it a day.

Instead, we're showcasing that a regional supply chain can show up, at scale, under a deadline, in front of a crowd, and still deliver. So we'd like to clarify that no, this isn't really a rematch against Philadelphia. It's more so a demonstration that the revival of local farming and sourcing isn't just a newsletter slogan. It's something resilient and strong enough to build a 1,350-foot sandwich out of.

Now, for the past few weeks, this story has been resurfacing on all of our favorite local news stations. And every time it shows up on our feed again, we see the same questions and concerns in the comments and in our inbox. We wanted to take the time to address these for you.

1. "Why is it made out of hundreds of individual rolls instead of one continuous roll?" We see what you mean, but we'd like to clarify that no bakery on earth is turning out a 1,000+ foot loaf of bread. Even if one could hypothetically do it, it would not survive being moved and served fresh without turning into the world's largest mess. Therefor, the record is the longest line of phillys!
2. "Why aren't the sandwiches given out for free? Are they being wasted for this stunt?" The sandwiches are not given out for free because the entire events exists to raise money for the Boys & Girls Club of the Lewis Clark Valley! The $10 ticket charge isn't for our restaurants, it IS the fundraiser. In 2023, that model generated over $10,000 for local kids' programs from just one Saturday morning. If we give the sandwiches away for free, we have a fun photo op and $0 for the club.
3. "You can do this but not make ranch free at Taco Time?" We hear you on this one, we really do. We have consulted our scientists, accountants and ranch-related legal counsel. The answer remains no.
4. "Aren't there bigger issues to worry about in the valley besides a massive sandwich?" Sure, but this event is how some of those issues get funded! A world record sandwich is a pretty solid hook, the check to the boys and girls club and a demonstration that local farms and producers can supply a major event are the point.
5. "How do you keep a 1,350-foot sandwich from turning into a public health disaster?" Great question, and one that our crews take very seriously. This is built and served the same day. Assembly took about 37 minutes last time, and we're hoping to be just as fast this time! As well as having tents to keep the area covered, and a specific type of cheese chosen to help maintain heat and freshness.
6. And finally, "Is this even the 'real' record?" Truthfully, it comes down to how much we want to pay Guinness World Records. To have them come out and verify our record, we'd have to pay them $20,000+, which would be more than we expect to make in profit. So, we had a choice: give all of our proceeds away to have someone tell us what we already know, we broke the record OR give the money back to our community. It wasn't a hard decision; we're going to give it to you.

Construction of the sandwich and the record attempt will take place on August 22nd in downtown Lewiston during Hot August Nights. Tickets are available in advance through the Happy Day Restaurants corporate office and Boys & Girls Club locations.

By the end of the day, the tape measure will only tell part of the story. Maybe Lewiston breaks the record. Maybe Philadelphia holds onto its bragging rights. Perhaps we'll discover that there is a limit to how many cheesesteaks a community can handle. But the story remains strong: A regional food supply chain holding its own and a kids' charity that found a delicious way to fund its programming. We're in this together, one 12-inch Philly at a time.