Fifteen years ago, Anthony “Tony” Migacz was on a fishing trip when his sandwich slipped from his hands and landed in the bottom of a cooler filled with melted ice.
The bread was soaked, so he tossed it aside and ate the meat and cheese.
In that moment, an idea was born.
“CHEESEWICH™,” he thought.
Today, that simple solution, two slices of cheese wrapped around one slice of hard salami, has grown into a nationally distributed snack brand ranked No. 5 in the meat-and-cheese snacking category in the convenience store channel.
The Migacz family, longtime residents of Palos Heights, see the journey from a soggy sandwich to a successful food manufacturing company as deeply personal.
Tony and his wife, Rose, lived in Palos Heights for more than 40 years before recently moving to Orland Park. Their first home was on Shiawassee Drive. Later, they built a custom house near the former Dunlap’s restaurant on Nashville Avenue. Over the decades, they raised two children and built not just a family, but a business rooted in hard work and loyalty.
“My father’s story is just incredible,” said Sarah Nesci, vice president of CHEESEWICH™, who lives in Palos Heights. “He’s always been in the food business in one way or another.”
Nesci and her brother, Tony Migacz Jr., run the company alongside their father. Tony Jr. attended Marist High School. Nesci attended Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School and graduated from Alan B. Shepard High School.
The family’s factory is located in Hodgkins, where more than 50 employees work on the production line making CHEESEWICH™ products. Another 10 employees handle administration and sales, supported by a broker network across the country. The company now offers 20 retail items and also produces private-label products for national brands. CHEESEWICH™ can be found in convenience stores nationwide.
As his daughter said, the fishing trip that sparked the idea came after decades of hustle in the food industry.
Migacz began his career at Home Run Inn, earning $1.65 an hour making pizzas. It was there that he met Rose. The couple has been married 48 years.
After developing baker’s asthma and being unable to continue working with flour, Migacz changed direction. He sold steaks and seafood door to door and store to store.
“Door to door, store to store, till there ain’t no more,” he and his sales crew would chant before heading out each day.
He peeled and deveined shrimp before imported products changed the market. He opened a shrimp house called “Y-Not Shrimp,” which is Tony spelled backward, and later distributed the first frozen Home Run Inn pizzas. The family continues to repack frozen seafood for home delivery businesses, shipping pallets to cold storage facilities across the country.
The accidental breadless sandwich proved transformative.
CHEESEWICH™, refrigerated, gluten-free and carb-free, carved out a niche in the growing grab-and-go snack market. What began as a practical solution to a ruined lunch became a product that now supports more than 60 employees and their families.
“The golden rule, treat others the way you want to be treated,” Migacz said. “CHEESEWICH™ means everything to me. It provides income not only for our family, but for the families of the people who work with us.”
Nesci describes her father as someone who can make anyone laugh.
“He’s a hoot,” she said. “Attitudes are contagious. Is yours worth catching?”
From their roots in Palos Heights to convenience store coolers across the country, the Migacz family’s breadless sandwich continues to tell a story.