On paper, opening a new franchise sandwich shop right now in Billings seems crazy. There’s no end in sight to the soft economy, no end to the number of sandwich shops in town, and the franchise is one few people in Montana have heard of.
All that didn’t scare CJ Zielie one bit when he decided to anchor the state’s first Spicy Pickle on the West End of Billings.
“It’s our concept that is different,” Zielie said. “There’s nothing in Billings like this. The word of mouth has been great. It’s just been crazy.”