Meet Jeff Flancer of Flancer’s Restaurant in Gilbert and Mesa

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeff Flancer.

Jeff, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
At 18 years of age, I went into the Culinary Institute of American in Hyde Park, NY to become a Chef. After graduation, I moved to California and continued to hon my skills in the LA area. After becoming an Executive Chef there, I decided to move to Santa Fe, NM, and learn a new cuisine. At the time I was 27 years old, and finally opened my own business, not because I wanted to, I had to. There were no jobs for Executive Chefs with it being off season(oops!) But I had to pay the bills somehow. So, I started up The Ramblin’ Cafe in 1990 and delivered food to peeps all over Santa Fe. It started to grow after a time, so I squeezed my kitchen down and turned the extra space into seating and a restaurant was born. It was far from the fanciest place around, although I had some design touches from the same floor artist as Mark Miller’s Coyote Café and some interior decorators from across the street helped with colors. It’s still there today with the same name and sign that my talented grammar school buddy Dave made. (Dave still works with me today.) I continued to learn and love the New Mexican cuisine but chose to move to Phoenix after having two boys.

Still as a fairly young family man, I didn’t have a lot of money saved, but took the money from the sale of my Santa Fe restaurant and bought a restaurant in Gilbert that was failing and losing money but had the equipment I wanted and needed. The big selling point was a big mixer so I could start to make bread.

After six months of slowly building up sales, and sometimes playing some Jenga during downtimes, the local food critic gave us an amazing review, with many more to thankfully come, and we were off and running. We make some unique sandwiches, pizzas, salads, apps and burgers, and we put a New Mexican twist on it (I wonder where that came from?).

After eight years, we opened a second store, not for the money honey, but I wanted to see if we could recreate the same vibe and great food as our first spot. It was no easy task even if everyone tells you so, it rarely is, but with all the ups and downs, were doing great after all these years! Hint for ya, don’t name your LLC Smooth Sailing as I did, you’ll jinx it because it won’t be!

Now, we’re coming around to 20 yrs at Flancer’s. I am most proud of a few items. First is my great staff, some who have been with me for practically the whole journey. Another is making great food that connects with people’s heart and stomach. And finally, we have a great partnership with our communities. Together we raise about $25,000 a year for local charities. We had a pizza eating contest for the first 18 yrs, and last year we tried something new and had a 5K run with dogs allowed. I suppose we needed to run off some of those calories!

We’d love to hear more about your business.
We make unique food with a twist. We’re like a neighborhood favorite that tastes like a dream and fits like a glove. Everything from appetizers to desserts are made from scratch. We have truly great Chefs running our kitchens that put out the likes of

“The Perfect Prickly Pear,” which is a prickly pear chicken sandwich w/ green chili aioli. It’s original and we’re known and loved for it. Also, our “It’s About Thyme,” balsamic-thyme marinated chicken with sautéed mushrooms and fresh basil aioli. We have some great names of the items, so even if you didn’t think that is the best sandwich you ever tasted(which you likely might), you still might get a chuckle out of the name. Our “Steak It To The Limit,” cheesesteak is a blockbuster bestseller, maybe it stems from my childhood in Philadelphia.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Who the heck knows! Lol. Economics will always play a role, that’s for sure. 100 years ago, it took 30 people in a kitchen to put out the best food of the day, now it takes less than 10. I love the fact that even now a lot of young people don’t cook, they are passionate about good food, that’s important.

Contact Info:

• Address: 610 N Gilbert Rd Gilbert AZ 85234 1902 N Higley Rd Mesa, AZ 85205
• Website: www.flancers.com
• Phone: 480-926-9077 (G) 480-396-0077 (M)
• Email: jeff@flancers.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flancersaz/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/flancersgilbert/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/flancersaz
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/flancers-gilbert
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ5pPfi1XVdx7dlSON5k__Q

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