Archive: Business & Technology

Congressman Tom Reed was in Ithaca Wednesday to get behind the counter at Firehouse Subs to make sandwiches and show his support for local entrepreneurs and businesses that support law enforcement and first responders.  Reed met with owner Jamie Mullen and General Manager Christian McCarty to learn their story and see first hand how the restaurant operates.

"Firehouse Subs has a great legacy," Reed said after taking a tour of the restaurant. "We've heard about the commitment they've made to our local first responders, and to see a gentleman like Jamie putting it on the line.  We just want to make sure they know we're here standing with them."

Firehouse Subs was founded in Jacksonville, Florida in 1994, and has expanded to 1170 stores nationwide.  The Ithaca branch opened about five years ago.  Mullen, an EMT, bought the restaurant in February with a partner who is also a medic, when the original owner became ill.  Since that time he has bought two more, making them the owners of three of the only five Firehouse Subs franchises in New York State.

"We got involved with Firehouse a couple of years ago, and started figuring out what the brand was about," Mullen said. "The more you find out about it the more you fall in love with their core mission.  It really is about giving back and making the community safer."


While the shop is, of course, aimed at anyone who loves subs, it has a special connection with firefighters, EMTs and law enforcement.  A painting paying tribute to the Ithaca Fire Department graces one wall.  Another wall has patches of over 60 local fire departments.  A number of the customers who came in while Reed visited were firefighters and EMTs from local departments, bangs Ambulance, and departments as far as Horseheads.


The Ithaca store donates to the Public Safety Foundation, and collects donations through the sales of pickle buckets after they have been emptied and cleaned, as well as asking for donations at the register.  Recently the Ithaca store donated $24,000 to the Steuben County Sheriff's Department for automated external defibrillators so deputies can carry one in each patrol car.  Mullen says departments may apply for grants, and the Foundation awards them quarterly.

The restaurant purchased an ambulance from a children's hospital in New Jersey.  It was repainted, and is used as another way to support local emergency responders.

"When we find out that there's a large fire or natural disaster like a flooding event in the community," said Mullen. "We throw a bunch of subs in there, and keep it stocked with water and Gatorade.  BJ's Wholesale Club donates a lot of Gatorade and water to us, and we'll take that out there and feed emergency responders."


Reed wasn't just there to talk.  He donned an apron and got a quick training course on how to take orders, work the register, and, of course make sandwiches. 

"Restaurant retail is something I grew up with, and it's fun interacting with people," Reed said. "When I grew up I was a bartender at the local Lakeside Tavern.  I was a busboy at the local country club.  I was doing the dishes back there.  So I came up through the restaurant world myself.  It's a great skill.  My daughter does it too."