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Transportation and was an employee at a mobile car
wash before making his first foray into running his
own restaurant.
“They say if you do something you love, you’ll never
work a day in your life,” he said, adding that he wanted
to find that feeling in the next job that he took.
He became a partner at Sergio’s on the Boulevard
pizzeria in Long Island City but felt the urge to branch
out on his own. He shared that he had always wanted
to open an Italian or Spanish restaurant, so a friend
gave him the idea to open up his own sandwich shop
called “Reubens and Cubans.”
“I didn’t like the name but I liked the idea,” he
recalled and set out to learn everything about the
sandwich and deli business.
Giovanniello learned the deli business from the
owner of Sapienza in Howard Beach, who taught
him to make the pastrami for the shop’s signature
sandwich. But he also credits much of his success to
his family, particularly his father who he said “taught
me everything I know in life.”
The store’s name was born out of him sharing
with his family that he wanted to be “known for the
best” and so his father came up with the name “The
Sandwich King.” The shop owner said that his father
was also the one who taught him the importance of
having a “spotless and clean” business operation.
In addition to the signature pastrami, other sand-wiches
include the “Mikey Bangz”, a chicken cutlet
hero named for his older brother, the self-named
“Nicky Cash” which features prosciutto and fresh
mozzarella and “The Williamsburg Windmill”, a roast
beef sandwich named for his grandfather who was
a famous boxer in the 1950s.
The Sandwich King is currently opened seven days
a week from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. from Monday to Saturday
and 6 a.m. to a to-be-determined time on Sundays.
Feature
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