Mr. Sandwich Still Serves Fort Wayne After a 10-Year Bet

Mr. Sandwich in Fort Wayne is still filling orders at 3213 St. Joe Center Road. A customer who bought six Cubans on September 7, 2026, called the service fast.

Owner George Bourounis opened the Riviera Plaza shop on June 25, 2025, on a 10-year lease in the bay that had housed Waffle Station, after other Fort Wayne dining rooms had already gone dark.

A 10-Year Lease on a Dark Waffle Shop

Bourounis told Fort Wayne in December 2024 that the sandwich shop was a gamble, and he signed a decade anyway. He wanted to be there a long time, he said, with fair prices and quality sandwiches, if the northeast side would come in.

The bay at 3213 St. Joe Center Road had just lost its last kitchen. Other rooms around town had closed in the same stretch. He still put 10 years of rent on the table.

THE ROOMS THAT WENT DARK

• Waffle Station: Fort Wayne Famous Waffle Station at 3213 St. Joe Center Road is listed as closed permanently, and Mr. Sandwich took that bay.
• CoreLife Eatery: The chain’s Fort Wayne room was among the area closures Bourounis was asked about when he signed.
• Cebolla’s Mexican Grill: Another local dining room that had gone dark in the months before the lease.

His own clock started with a used mower. More than 15 years before the first sandwich ticket, he said, the plan began with a $50 push lawnmower and landscaping work meant to fund a shop of his own. “We invested a lot to make it different and unique,” he said as the June opening neared.

We want to be here for a long time, give nice quality sandwiches, nice fair prices, and hopefully the community will support us.

George Bourounis, owner, Mr. Sandwich

His daughter Alexia Bourounis stood with him on that bet. “Just growing up in it I’m proud of everyone in my family, and I’m proud of my dad for making the choice to landscaping as well because I know he’s been wanting this for a long time,” she said.

The January Opening Slipped Into June

The first public window was late January or early February 2025. The doors did not move then. Bourounis had signed in December 2024 and then waited, saying he would not open until everything was dialed in perfectly.

By mid-June he was promising the next week. The soft opening landed on Wednesday, June 25, 2025, from noon to 8 p.m., with sandwiches, soups, salads, and desserts on the board. The phone on the listings is (260) 999-6131.

FROM THE DECEMBER LEASE TO FIRST SERVICE

1. December 2024: Signs a 10-year lease for 3213 St. Joe Center Road in Riviera Plaza.
2. Late January or early February 2025: First public opening window; the shop stays closed while he finishes the room.
3. June 2025: Says the official open is the next week and lays out lunch-and-dinner hours, including 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.
4. June 25, 2025: Holds a soft opening from noon to 8 p.m.
5. February 9, 2026: A Bourounis family post lists weeknight close at 9 p.m. and Friday-Saturday close at 10 p.m.
6. September 7, 2026: A customer review describes six Cubans, fast service, and a manager on the floor.

The build included two service windows at once, one for walk-up customers and one for drive-through, plus about 25 parking spots. He talked about adding outdoor cooking later that summer. Whether those grills ever went in is not on the public record that followed.

What Mr. Sandwich Serves on St. Joe Center Road

Mr. Sandwich sells 6-inch and 12-inch sandwiches hot or cold, with clubs, paninis, and croissant fillings such as tuna salad, chicken salad, and Southwest chicken. The shop’s site lists a BBQ chicken panini at $8.99 and Caesar and chef salads at $12.99, plus soups, milkshakes, and sides.

Listings also name an NY Philly steak, a Cubano, and a Chicago beef. Shop videos have pushed a chicken Alfredo sandwich on a 6-inch or a foot-long, with a combo advertised at $5.99 for any two sides from drinks, cookies, potato salad, coleslaw, soup, or chili. Potato chips sit on that side board too.

LISTED PRICES ON THE SHOP SITE

Those salads run $4 above the BBQ chicken panini for $8.99. Anyone who wants the full board can pull the shop’s online menu before they join the window line.

Cosmos Already Owned the Breakfast Crowd

Bourounis did not come in cold. When the family lived in Joliet, Illinois, his father ran two shops. After they moved to Fort Wayne, his dad opened Cosmos, and George grew up working there.

The family opened its first Cosmos on Coliseum Road on August 5, 1995. A 2015 note from the Bourounis family marked 20 years and said three other locations had followed that first room. The Bourounis family breakfast rooms still pitch a smile at the door and local buying, down to Red Gold tomatoes from Elwood, Indiana, and meat from Tim Didier Meats.

A Cosmos at 9807 Lima Road was still plating breakfast in June 2026. Hours there run 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day, and a June 19, 2026, note describes a skillet with hash browns, sausage, eggs, sausage gravy, and toast. That is the morning trade George said he would not copy.

“Everyone is doing breakfast and lunch nowadays,” Bourounis said. “Let’s do something different.” Cosmos would keep the early plates. Mr. Sandwich would take lunch and dinner, and, on paper, the late-night crowd after the bars thinned out.

He Advertised 3 A.M. and Later Posted 10 P.M.

The June 2025 hour sheet was the part of the bet that sounded least like another Fort Wayne sandwich counter. Weekdays would run 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 3 a.m., Sunday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. The 3 a.m. close was how he planned to catch people Cosmos never sees.

On February 9, 2026, the family posted a different clock. Weeknights still ended at 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday ended at 10 p.m. The post did not mention 3 a.m., and it did not list Sunday at all. It did push a foot-long chicken Alfredo and signed off, “See you for lunch or dinner from the Bourounis family.”

ANNOUNCED HOURS AND THE FEBRUARY POST

Weeknight close held. The late-night window did not appear in that family post. Current hours and sandwich specials on Facebook are where the shop now talks to the neighborhood, including the February reel that put 10 p.m. on the weekend.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/906155079040648/

That is a quieter night than the one he sold when he was still hanging the sign. The 10-year lease did not need 3 a.m. to stay in force, and the tickets that followed suggest lunch and dinner are carrying the room.

Reviewers Split on Chicago Beef and Extra Sauce

The public listing that collected 16 reviews rates the shop 3.5. Seven of those notes are five stars. Four are one star. The middle is thin: one four-star, two threes, two twos. That split matches what the comments actually describe, a large Chicago-style beef that people want to reorder and a second visit that sometimes arrives with missing toppings or a bun in sauce.

HOW 16 PUBLIC REVIEWS BROKE DOWN

• Five stars: 7 reviews.
• Four stars: 1 review.
• Three or two stars: 4 reviews.
• One star: 4 reviews.

Brian S. wrote on August 22, 2026, that he had a “Delicious Chicago beef sandwich, baptized with all the au jus and giardiniera you could want,” and called the shop a gem he would visit again. Rodney S. wrote on July 14, 2026, that the food was made fresh and the people were kind. CJ O., on September 7, 2026, said service was very fast, the manager was respectful, and “6 Cubans was worth the cost.”

The other half of the pile is execution. Heather K. wrote on August 28, 2026, that she would not recommend the shop after a second try; the first sandwich was missing toppings, and she had let it go because her husband’s order was good. Jessica S. wrote on May 29, 2026, that a sandwich she called the papa gorgios hung off the bun with no greens and too much sauce. The shop is winning on size and on that Chicago beef, and it is losing on the small stuff that repeats when someone comes back.

The Rest of the Lease Points to His Daughters

Bourounis said the shop was not only a business. He had already spent the landscaping years getting to the lease. The next decade, on his telling, is a family handoff if his daughters want it.

I’m doing this for my daughters. Maybe someday my daughters will choose to take it over.

George Bourounis, owner, Mr. Sandwich

Alexia already talks about the work as a family habit. Cosmos still feeds Fort Wayne in the morning on Lima Road. Mr. Sandwich is the lunch and dinner room on St. Joe Center Road, still taking Cubans in September 2026 in a bay that had gone dark once already.

On April 9, 2026, a customer named Andrea D. ordered online, added mushroom and Italian cheese, and found Bourounis at the window when she arrived. He asked to put the dressing on the side so it would not ruin the sandwich. She wrote that the sandwich was huge enough to feed two or three people, fresh, hot, and worth the price, and that she would be back. That is what the 10-year paper looks like on a weeknight: one window, one correction, and a bag that still goes out.