The other night while spending time on an app on my phone an ad popped up for Charley's Cheesesteaks.

The ad said they could deliver it to my house real soon. I thought maybe it was a new place that opened up on the other side of my town or the next town over. I looked them up and it turns out that they have 18 locations all over New Jersey. So, why have I never heard of them? Because I generally don't go to the mall.

Charley Shin is the Korean American CEO of Charley's, which has 700 locations in 46 states and 17 countries. There are twp near me that I had never been to. One is in the Moorestown Mall, the other is in the Cherry Hill Mall. They are in malls, airports and other locations where there is a food court. Most people in New Jersey don't eat their cheesesteaks in the mall.

With legendary places in South Jersey like Donkey's Place, Dad's Deli, Gaetano's, Chick's Deli and so on, why would you go to the mall to get what could only be a poor knockoff of the locally invented culinary delight like the cheesesteak? They're smart in advertising their ability to deliver one to you. Ever since, he has been driven to success.

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He built his empire by smartly targeting travelers and shoppers who are drawn in by the aroma of chopped steak cooking on the grill. He's worked on perfecting his version of the cheesesteak.

He did his homework and they're pretty good.  I've had so-called "Philly cheesesteaks" in other parts of the country and they were just awful. Charley's has decent ratings among very critical New Jersey cheesesteak eaters and that's saying a lot.

Next time you're in the airport or the mall and you smell that delicious aroma and it's Charley's, know that he's been at it a long time and makes a thoroughly decent cheesesteak.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Dennis Malloy only.

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