Listen to the interview here!
Toni Reece: Hi there. This is Toni Reece. Welcome to the Get Inspired! Project for Berks County Living Magazine. Today I have Eryk Cerankowski with me. Hi, Eryk.
Eryk Cerankowski: Hello. How are you?
Toni: I’m great. How are you doing?
Eryk: I’m doing wonderful, thank you.
Toni: So Eryk, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Eryk: I’m a chef. I’ve been a chef for many, many years. I decided to open up a cheesesteak house in Berks County to bring the true Philadelphia flavor to the area. It’s actually worked very, very well. The response was incredible.
Toni: Congratulations. We were having a bit of a chat before we went on here, and you made me incredibly hungry. Eryk, let’s go right into the questions. What does inspiration mean to you?
Eryk: Inspiration to me is to take that God-given feeling of knowing that I can make a difference in the world and to keep moving forward with his guidance; to do what you feel is right and what you can give to people. Everyone has a special talent that they’re given, and if you take that talent and apply it with love, you’re automatically going to be successful.
Toni: There’s a couple of things here that you’ve said. I just want to touch on one. How do you know what it is? That’s my first question.
Eryk: Because it’s just inside you. You just know it. You can feel it. Just like the difference between right and wrong – you know it. You don’t have to have someone tell you. It’s that feeling in your gut that you just know what’s good and what’s not.
Toni: I would imagine that if you choose to do it with love or you choose to just do it, there will be a big difference in the success.
Eryk: Absolutely. Love what you’re doing, and you never work a day in your life.
Toni: That is true, isn't it? It really is. How do you put that inspired gut feeling into practice here in Berks County?
Eryk: You get up and you get out of bed and you look for opportunity. It’s there – you just have to pay attention.
Toni: Can you give me an example?
Eryk: I’ll give you an example. I was working construction in New York City. I was doing that for quite a long time. I did high-rise construction, general superintendent. With the terrible economy back in 2007, it continued to get worse, and I decided that I didn’t want to travel to New York City anymore. What I did was, I was checking the papers and putting feelers out and looking for a place to make cheesesteaks. I’ve been living up here for 10 years, and I wanted to make a good cheesesteak, because honestly, I couldn’t find one that is a true Philly cheesesteak.
One day I was sitting in my sitting room in my bedroom and I was contemplating on what to do. My wife, Chrissy, came up and she gave me a newspaper to read. Normally she just doesn’t do that. It was kind of a fluke. “Here – why don’t you just read the paper?”
I put the paper down. I said, “No. I don’t feel like reading the paper.” I went out and I took a drive, looking for a location for a cheesesteak house. Then it dawned on me, “Wait a minute – there was a reason why my wife gave me that newspaper.” I drove back home, I opened up the newspaper, and I looked in the businesses for sale section. There was a shack that was for rent in Leesport. I made the phone call, and lo and behold I got the shack at a very, very nice price. I went in, started making cheesesteaks, and as they say, “The rest is history.”
Toni: Did you have any experience before you were inspired to do something like this?
Eryk: I did. I owned a delicatessen/pizzeria in Morrisville, Pennsylvania. I owned a diner. I got out of the business for a while because I had young children, and I didn’t want to spend all my time in the restaurants. I got back in when the economy got bad. I do; I have a lot of experience. I can pretty much make anything.
Toni: Really?
Eryk: Anything, yes.
Toni: Fantastic. Let’s go back to this. So you were inspired to change careers and go back into the food business, which you had experience in too – how do you feel that you are making a difference with this type of business? That’s how you started this out, that you’re inspired to use your gifts to make a difference.
Eryk: The way that the Steak Shack makes a difference and the way I make a difference is that it makes people happy. It’s an incredible feeling. It’s very hard to describe. When somebody comes up to you and they say that it’s the best steak sandwich they’ve ever had in their life, it gives you a feeling that you can't describe. It’s a feeling that you make people happy.
Whenever you go somewhere, you always remember a particular person who made an impact in your life. You always remember a good sandwich. You always remember a good meal. If you were on the boardwalk and you had a slice of pizza, you always remember that.
I think that I create a lot of memories for people with the Steak Shack. They can't wait to come back. Our motto is, “Everybody comes back to the Shack.” We cut no corners. Everything is made fresh. Our chicken cheesesteaks are made with chicken tenderloins. We give options to build whatever kind of sandwich you want. You don’t just pull up and say, “Okay, we’ll have a cheesesteak,” and we don’t throw it out the window. You get onions and Whiz and that’s all there is to it. You have whatever you want, however you like it.
Toni: So it’s really creating an experience and remembering that you’re creating an experience.
Eryk: Absolutely.
Toni: And inspiring others to leave your establishment saying, “That was pretty darn good.”
Eryk: Absolutely. We have people that actually call us and they say, “Oh my God, it was absolutely … it was an experience!”
Toni: That’s great. Who in Berks County inspires you?
Eryk: The people of Berks County inspire me.
Toni: How so?
Eryk: Foods makes people happy. When they come in, they’re just happy to be there. I know that from when they tell other people and the other people come in. The people here are awesome. I can't explain it. They appreciate good food. They appreciate hospitality. They feel like they’re welcome, and when they feel like they’re welcome, it makes all the difference in the world.
Toni: And then they give back and support.
Eryk: Absolutely.
Toni: Are there any individuals in particular in Berks County that have inspired you that you can think of?
Eryk: There’s one person in particular that really inspired me, and his name is Al Lopez. He works with the Olivet Foundation. We did a party for him and the boys and the girls in December, their pizza party – 200 of them. They came in and they had a wonderful, wonderful time. We did pizza and sodas.
When it was all over, those kids took the time to come back to me with Al and thank me and all give me a high five. That really touched my heart, because it was something that you don’t typically see inner city teenagers doing. It was wild. It really was. I’m getting choked up now. It brought tears to my eyes.
That’s what makes the difference, when you have people like Al that are out helping these kids to become something that they want to be. I just want to tell them that they can be whatever they want to be – they just have to believe that they can. It’s that simple.
Toni: And work hard to get there.
Eryk: Absolutely. Get up out of bed and just keep moving.
Toni: That’s right – and how many of those kids may end up someday working for you?
Eryk: Absolutely. They can stop in anytime.
Toni: What would you want your legacy to be?
Eryk: I would just like to be remembered for making a difference. I’d like to get more involved in helping the inner city kids out and becoming not so much as being known for the Steak Shack, but being known for an individual who made an impact on people’s lives. When I’m not around anymore I want people to say, “You know what? I remember him very well. He made a difference in my life.” To help whoever I can along the way to accomplish their dreams … that would be awesome.
Toni: I’ve said this in almost every interview that the legacy question tends to trip some people up because they think it’s what they want to be remembered for after they’re gone, and the legacy question really also applies to your living legacy. Listening to what moves you, listening to what inspires you, it sounds as though you are living your legacy. I thank you very much for being part of the Get Inspired! Project.
Eryk: Thank you.
