Quick Chek to Host First-Ever Sub Showdown

WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J. -- Quick Chek, operator of 125 food store locations throughout New Jersey and southern New York, unveiled the five finalists slated to compete in its first-ever Sub Showdown, a build-your-own-sub recipe contest in which contestants will not only vie to win free Quick Chek subs for a year, but also the chance to have their recipe added to the chain's menu.

Quick Chek's Sub Showdown will take place Saturday, Oct. 16 at 10 a.m. at the chain's newest Bayonne, N.J., store off Exit 14A of the N.J. Turnpike. There, participants will help to build their sub recipes and serve them to a team of four judges including Quick Chek Senior Category Manager-Food Service Jennifer Vespole; Quick Chek Category Manager Mandy Steindl-Kwiecien; Performance Food Group Corporate Chef Robert Conti; and a Quick Chek Facebook fan. Ultimately, one contestant will be crowned the Quick Chek Sub Showdown grand prize winner.

Quick Chek's first-ever Sub Showdown contestants are: Michael Caballero from Piscataway, N.J., who will present his "Pigs in a Blanket" sub; Joseph Cristiano from Suffern, N.Y., who will make a "Mozzarella Mania" sub; Katy Ells from Ewing, N.J., who will unveil "The Mouser" sub; Alan Kahn from Old Bridge, N.J., who will create "The Big Bad Bacon Chicken" sub; and Debbie Pikul from Middletown, N.Y., who will present her "Happy Cowboy" sub.

On June 14, Quick Chek customers were invited to visit www.ilovemysub.com to create and submit their own sub recipe. More than 4,100 sub entries were collected through Monday, Sept. 6. Web site visitors were able to vote for their favorites. The top three sub recipes with the most votes, created by Cristiano, Ells and Kahn, advanced to the showdown, along with the others by Caballero and Pikul, which were selected by food experts at Quick Chek.