“To Deliver the Ultimate Hospitality and Grilled Cheese Experience through Extreme Flavor Combinations.”
What happens when two guys with roots in fine-dining, electronics, engineering and remodeling put their heads together for a possible business venture? Well, nothing at first. You see, we liked meeting for lunch. We liked the idea of simple comfort food. But comfort food can get boring. And “gourmet food” sounds kind of pretentious here in North Idaho. So, as our food quest continued, it sparked the idea that would become MELTZ Extreme.
Realizing there might be an untapped niche here, we started kicking around ideas. We wanted to give comfort food a twist, an edge, and when Matt threw out the word “Extreme,” we knew we were onto something. Considering Joe’s fine-dining roots and extensive culinary experience; cheese was a blank canvas, and grilled cheese sandwiches were the perfect vehicle for delivering edgy flavor combinations.
We liked the word "Extreme", but what do we mean when we say Extreme? For us, Extreme was a combination of components, starches, proteins, and sauces that are harmonious together.
As entrepreneurs, our desire is to build a Christian-based company. We see our business as our mission, to make a positive impact in our community. With core values of respect, honesty and loyalty; we stand behind our food 100%. We promise our customers, if something isn’t right – we WILL work to make it right.
Joe bought out Matt so he could focus on ministry work and is the sole proprietor of Meltz. June 2022 marked 10 years of being open and has become a thriving destination restaurant. With plenty of future plans, currently about to open in Boise late 2022 and a license agreement is in place in Bend, OR, we suggest you settle in and hold on tight for what we know will be an exciting ride.
Meltz Is NOT a Fast Food Restaurant, nor is it a traditional sit-down restaurant. Fast Casual is a food service establishment that provides restaurant quality foods in a faster and more convenient setting. Our sandwiches require 12-15 minutes to make to order but our atmosphere is designed to be casual and free-flowing. The fast-casual food establishments are growing in popularity across the country as individuals continue to desire higher quality food than fast food, but still want convenience and ease.
The grilled cheese master, Chef Joe McCarthy, initially started his career in fine dining. A graduate of New England Culinary Institute, his resume spans high-end restaurants in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Aspen. Grilled cheese has become a blank canvas upon which his creativity captures flavors across the globe. His fanz adore his whimsical creations, joining him on food adventures to Peru, Canada, Korea, China and Mexico. These robust featured sandwiches have won accolades both locally and nationally. In 2018, USA Today named Meltz as the best grilled cheese in Idaho. A similar award was given by People magazine in 2019 stating the Cubano is the best sandwich in Idaho. Locally, awards from North Idaho Business Journal’s for Best Sandwich three years running, best fast-casual dining in North Idaho from the Spokane Guild two years in a row, and the Inlander’s Best Mac and Cheese. If you haven’t tried Meltz yet, you have been missing out.
With two young boys and a wife wanting him to quit traveling for work, Joe was lamenting that he needed a creative outlet locally. He had already worked in some restaurants locally but knew he wanted to spread his entrepreneurial wings. Idahoans love meat and potatoes so, with this in mind, he believed a grilled cheese concept would be a safe bet. The menu highlights a featured sandwich as well as old favorites. A 2013 National Grilled Cheese Award winner—the Potsticker—is a tried-and-true favorite and an example of how Asian food is complimented by the addition of cheese! When he travels, he looks for flavors that locals might now be familiar with but could be coaxed into trying. The “Extreme” category of sandwiches requires a combination of components that include starches, proteins and sauces that harmoniously work together.
His success has been rooted in the fact that most recipes are made in-house. The staff adhere to a strong sense of ownership and attention to detail. Profit sharing ensures that the core team of professionals buy into their mission statement “To deliver the Ultimate Hospitality and Grilled Cheese Experience”. For over eleven years, they have responded to every review. These reviews are discussed in weekly staff meetings, some of which resulted in changing processes or ingredients based on customer input.
The most commonly used hashtag is #fanzrule because the restaurants’ success is directly tied to the customers. Some loyal customers do not like when their favorite sandwich leaves the menu but this partly due to seasonality (the Huckleberry Heaven is strictly a summer sandwich) as well as giving guests a reason to come back and try something else. The tips received by customers is shared by all the staff and this is something that is not industry standard but motivates all staff to be attentive to guests’ needs and mindful of operations as a whole. “Hospitality as a field is not respected to the degree that it should be and yet everyone wants to eat out.” The selfies, smiles and reviews all suggest that people appreciate what Chef Joe has created. The launching of a new sandwich, salad, dip or soup is an intentional and thought-out process. There is a palpable energy when developing new recipes and flavor profiles. “This is what we live for. Welcome to Meltz!”