Business

DISH ON DINING: Three Chopt extends hours, expands menu

Rosy and Matthew Rogers have extended hours at Three Chopt Sandwich Shoppe into the evening.

By Bill Moss, Published: October 2, 2019

Three Chopt Sandwich Shoppe, the downtown eatery known for its free popcorn appetizer and savory sandwiches, is extending its hours into the evening, adding blue-plate specials and possibly beer and wine.

The changes come after owner Matthew Rogers decided earlier this year to open on Sundays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“We started that back in February,” he said. “It’s grown to be one of our best days so it’s seven days a week.”
Three Chopt, which opened in 1996, added the nighttime hours two weeks ago.
“We do offer our same menu but some nightly specials that are not on the lunch menu,” Rogers said. “We’re certainly looking into having beer and wine when we get the license and the requirements. If our public wants it, we’re going to do it. I would expect it to happen.”
Nighttime additions include blue plate specials and regular features, such as pasta on Monday, steak on Tuesday and fish on Friday. At night diners often want “something hot” instead of a sandwich, a dessert and “something we’re proud of and has a good price, from $6 to $10,” he said. “We’re not Hot Dog World and Piggy’s and we’re not Shine and Mezzaluna. Everybody does what they do well.”
He plans to add a two-for-one special and other sales to amp up business. He’s hired a second full-time cook so he can avoid working seven days a week and spend a little time with his wife and family and practice singing, which brings him joy and a bit of renown. (He and two Hendersonville friends sung the game-opening national anthem and Rogers crooned “God Bless America” during the seventh inning stretch at the Cincinnati Reds’ Great American Ball Park.)
When diners ask him to sing, he obliges.
“These days we all say I will do everything I can for the customers to make them happy,” he said. “That’s how you stay in business.”

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Three Chopt Sandwich Shoppe, at 103 Third Ave. East, is open 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Friday and 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Phone: 828-296-0228.