SLO sub shop has sold signature sandos for nearly 60 years. Inside Ben Franklin’s
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Ben Franklin’s Deli has served Eastern-style subs in San Luis Obispo since 1969.
- Success stems from consistent recipes, loyal clientele and quality ingredients.
- Current owner Dobai added customizable subs, keeping tradition while updating menu.
Call it a hoagie, hero, grinder, sando or a submarine sandwich — by any name, it’s a popular, hearty meal that’s become a gold standard for most any place that serves food.
And one San Luis Obispo deli has been cranking out New York or Eastern-style subs for nearly six decades.
Ben Franklin’s Deli at 313 Higuera St. opened in 1969.
What makes their sub-sandwich style so memorably different?
According to Jim Wilimek, who owned Ben Franklin’s from 2002 to 2020, the sandwich started with a torpedo-shaped sub bun filled with thinly sliced meat.
Then, the it was packed with shaved cheese, shredded lettuce, tomatoes and onions, and dressed with a tangy vinaigrette of oil, red-wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Oregano was available in a shaker on the tables.
There wasn’t a whiff of mayonnaise in sight or taste (unless the customer asked for it).
Big? The small sandwich was 7 inches long, medium was 14 inches and the large was 21 inches.
“Ben Franklin’s was the only one making that kind of sub” when it opened in San Luis Obispo, Wilimek said.
He recalled that, at one time, there were “the better part of 29 places to get a sandwich in San Luis Obispo … several Subways, Quizno’s, the Giant Grinder. Quite a few chains, quite a few locals.”
A casual count today shows at least a dozen sub sandwich sources in SLO Town, and dozens of other restaurants that include sandwiches on their menus.
But Ben Franklin’s keeps on keepin’ on.
Some slices of Ben Franklin’s history
The shop launched in 1969 with the name of Ben Franklin’s Electric House, a menu of numbered sandwiches, a lot of dragon imagery and an outdoor mural of the famed inventor with his kite.
The sandwich numbers are gone now, as are most of the dragons.
But inventor Ben Franklin continues to fly his kite in a mural on an outside wall of the building, and the shop has kept its reputation for quality subs.
Decades later, some dedicated customers still recall the deli’s history and even the numbers and contents of their favorite subs.
“I remember when they were just a tiny ‘sliver’ of a storefront right downtown on Chorro, next to the Burriss Saddle shop,” Sue Girard told The Tribune. “... Later, they moved out to near the corner of Marsh and Higuera. Such a popular place and those lovely murals!”
“They served trad(itional) subs made the Italian way, good crusty bread with meats and cheese, overflowing with shaved iceberg lettuce that had been dressed with a great Italian, herby V&O (vinegar and oil) dressing, and zesty pickled pepperoncini on the side,” Girard said. “Shades of the childhood Italian delis we frequented growing up in San Jose, which had a very large expat Italian population.”
Will Jones of San Luis Obispo managed Ben Franklin’s on Higuera from 1981 to the end of 1984, he said, having left his job at Sebastian’s with restaurant-owner Dave Beem, who had bought Ben Franklin’s. (When Jones left Ben Franklin’s to get his teaching credential at Cal Poly, he wound up teaching at San Luis Obispo High School, then being its principal from 2002 through 2011.)
Like many people, Jones still remembers his favorite sandwich: The No. 11, with roast beef, pastrami and turkey.
Previous owner Wilimek’s fave was the No. 19, he said.
“It was very thinly sliced Italian sausage, linguica and pepperoni,” Wilimek said. “We nicknamed it ‘the triple-bypass sandwich.’”
Wilimek remembers when the deli was located where the Camp ‘N’ Pak store is now, next door to Ben Franklin’s.
“They got flooded out in 1974-ish and moved into the building where they are now,” he said
He’d been a fan and regular customer before he bought Ben Franklin’s Sandwich Co. from former owner Beem.
Wilimek changed very little after he took over, he said.
“I added another egg to the egg salad and installed a new toilet seat in the women’s restroom,” he said. “Those were my ‘sweeping’ changes.”
The successful eatery wasn’t broken, so he didn’t need to fix it.
Eventually, he remodeled the bathrooms, put in an accessible front door and had the murals repainted.
Through the near-decade he was there, Wilimek said, among the deli’s many special events were parties for youth sports teams, special parking-lot broadcasts of the Chuck Liddell mixed martial arts fights and unique events for some Cal Poly sports teams.
However, “the biggest things through all the years were our real, honest-to-goodness, regular customers, the ones that came in every day, or every single Tuesday, or every Monday, Wednesday and Friday,” he said. “It was amazing, really neat. Some of them would order exactly the same thing every day.”
“I had a manager, Valerie Montoya, who was with me 19-1/2 years. She knew everybody’s order before they came in, and many times had it ready for them as soon as she saw them drive up,” Wilimek said.
“She was the best for remembering everybody’s specialties, their nuances. I’m terrible with names, but I also knew by heart what my customers’ orders were. I was good at it, but Valerie was better,” he said.
“We had enough variety, quality and friendliness to keep them coming back in,” Wilimek added.
Those are the characteristics that have apparently convinced customers to return, again and again, to get their New York sub-sandwich fixes at Ben Franklin’s.
Ben Franklin’s today has some new items and a new/old look
Ahmed Dobai bought the business in 2020 from Wilimek and brought some sweeping changes to what had been there for a long time.
He remodeled the interior, then updated and trimmed down the decades-old menu by removing the long-established sandwich-ordering number list and some less popular options on that list.
Some of the historic artwork that used to be on the deli’s indoor tabletops is now displayed on the wall, he said.
Among his most popular menu additions today, Dobai said, are the “build your own” sandwich option and the “Krispy Krunchy … freshly made, perfectly Cajun” fried chicken. The latter is a trademarked entrée package sold to vendors that then dip and fry the prepared, marinated poultry treat on site.
Options for Dobai’s “build your own” sub include 10 different proteins, seven cheeses, 11 sauces (including the classic oil-and-vinegar and the reviled mayo), seven kinds of locally baked rolls or bread and a raft of additions, double-ups and extras.
Cost for the base sandwich is $11.99.
Chicken prices range from $2.99 for a thigh to $44.99 for a 24-piece order. Full entrees, with a side and biscuit, start at $7.99. Tenders, wings and honey-butter shrimp also are available.
Ben Franklin’s subs today “are still the same kind of Eastern-style sandwiches” they’ve always been, Dobai said. “We even still use the same vendors they did.”
“The most popular sandwiches now are the cold Italian and the Californian ATC,” he said. The cold Italian includes ham, cotto salami and pepperoni with provolone, while the ATC has avocado, turkey and Swiss cheese.
The menu also includes a breakfast sandwich and burrito, chili, salads, sides and two desserts.
Customers can order in person or online for pickup or delivery.
The 26-year-old Dobai, originally from Egypt, moved with his family to the Central Coast at the age of 10, he said.
He brought to Ben Franklin’s lots of deli experience that he got at a Paso Robles liquor store and deli that he owned for six years and at another deli there where he’d worked previously.
So, what motivated Dobai to buy Ben Franklin’s, near Thanksgiving in 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic?
He saw good opportunities there, he said.
“I’d read about its history, and that really attracted me,” Dobai said. “I’d be doing the same jobs there I’ve been doing, putting in a lot of work.”
As the business owner, he envisioned — and wanted to be a part of — perhaps another six decades or so for an iconic SLO County sub-sandwich deli with a lot of backstory and a well-known mural of a U.S. legend.
For more information
Ben Franklin’s is open Monday through Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
For more information, check Ben Franklin’s website at ben-franklins.com or its Instagram page at instagram.com/benfranklins2020. You can also reach the business by phone at 805-544-4948.
This story was originally published September 22, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
