Editor’s note: Restaurant Deep Dive is a new, recurring Food On Demand segment featuring local restaurants across the country and their relationship with delivery and takeout.
Craving both a New York Style Pizza and Philly cheesesteak? Then Frank and Andrea has got you covered. Based in Minneapolis, the restaurant has been serving up East Coast classics in the Midwest since 2016.
Located on the University of Minnesota campus, Frank and Andrea or “F&A”, as the locals call it, is known for its made-from-scratch, giant by-the-slice pizzas and authentic Philly cheesesteaks.
Walking in, one finds a typical pizza casual dining space, with a window counter that displays a variety of fresh pizza choices and an above-hanging menu that features cheesesteak options and sides. A smaller seating area sits among bright art and upbeat music. The restaurant also hones a strong off-premise presence while offering delivery and takeout, and has continued to see its online interactions grow.
Although situated on campus, the quality of food is better than one might expect from a fast-casual college joint. The restaurant prides itself on authenticity, using family recipes dating back almost a century ago.
Co-owners Shaz Khan and Antonio Gambino
Co-owner Antonio Gambino, who presides over the culinary aspects of the business, learned the trade from his father, Andrea. Born in Sicily, Andrea came to America with a dream—bring his hand-tossed Sicilian tradition stateside. The Gambino family went on to open a pizzeria in New Jersey in the 1970s and another in the Twin Cities decades later. Today, “Andrea Pizza” has three locations in the Minneapolis skyways.
Antonio wanted to continue his father’s legacy, but also add in Philly cheesesteaks, thus begun the crafting of Frank and Andrea.
That’s where co-owner and best friend of over 20 years, Shaz Khan comes in. With Gambino’s culinary experiences and Khan’s background in engineering, the duo set out to create an F&A right in Khan’s urban alma mater.
Good eats
Rated the number one cheesesteak in Minneapolis on Yelp, customers can order their cheesesteak the classic Philly way —griddled, sliced rib-eye steak piled onto an authentic Amoroso’s roll (which they fly in directly from the East Coast), topped with classic grilled onion and cheese. Or switch it up with options like the “Fat Tony” with steak or chicken, grilled onion, habanero jam, garlic aioli, jalapeno and two strips of bacon.
Pizza favorites include the “Little Mario” with pepperoni, sliced sausage, peppadew, fresh basil and fresh mozzarella slices to “Mamma Gambino’s Meatball” with pepperoni, meatballs, ricotta, fresh basil, parmesan cheese, and Andrea’s house sauce—to name a few.
F&A also likes to think outside of the box offering customers unique flavors like a honey chicken tender pizza or a ravioli-topped feature.
“When we first opened, I was at the register and got to watch Antonio’s creations come to life, with wild mixtures of toppings and cheeses,” said Khan.
Gambino and Khan’s success at F&A prompted the duo to open Tono Pizzeria & Cheesesteaks, a more elevated version, that focuses on the dine-in experience.
“Tono’s is an evolution of everything we learned catering more to a suburban quality, we took it up a notch as far as the aesthetic design of the space and ingredients,” said Khan.
Tono’s has five locations across the state of Minnesota, with a sixth location opening in Maple Grove in the near future.
Takeout/Delivery
Frank and Andrea, and the Tono’s locations, all offer takeout/delivery via third-party delivery.
Khan says orders are primarily made through DoorDash and Uber Eats with a small portion coming from Grubhub. Third-party delivery became a necessary component for the business after a short-lived failed stint at launching in-house delivery back in the restaurant’s early years.
F&A uses Toast for its online ordering processes. Through Toast, orders are directly integrated into the restaurant’s POS, a “dream come true” for Khan who recalls the “sea of tablets” that was once needed to handle online orders from different outlets.
“You had to type orders into the POS and there was a very specific, very tedious process that managers had to teach staff members in order to transcribe those orders into the POS accurately,” said Khan.
“The Toast integration really streamlined our operation and allowed us to process a higher volume of orders without pausing services and serve the community better with our piping hot meals,” he said.
Khan’s first-hand experience in dealing with the online ordering processes as well as his educational background, led him to become a member of the Toast Customer Advisory Board, providing the company with valuable feedback on nuances of the system.
“The question I try to answer with my feedback is, OK, a customer is trying to accomplish X, whether that’s place an order or add items. How do we get that info to them in a seamless and as minimal abrasive of the method as possible with as few clicks as possible?” said Khan.
“The better experiences customers have, the more likely they are to use these platforms and become a stronger partner with them and us,” he added.
Shifts in consumer behavior
Khan notes some of the bigger changes he’s seen in customers post-pandemic, is the decline in cash transactions, with platforms like Apple Pay and tap-to-pay taking precedence.
“We are also on a college campus and have an evolved demographic, more in the know to what’s new and what’s happening and tech-savvy,” said Khan. “We’ve even had requests to take bitcoin payments, that’s pushing the envelope but I’d love to do it.”
Looking ahead, while much of their time is currently tied up with the expansion of Tono’s Pizzeria & Cheesesteaks, Khan hopes to launch more Frank and Andrea locations at Big 10 college campuses across the nation.
“We feel the vibe is right and the demand is there.”
