ROCKFORD — Last summer, Josh Wilson and Dustin DiBenedetto took their unique twist on classic comfort food on the road with a new food truck.
This winter the Rockford entrepreneurs, who have been best friends since attending Guilford High School in the early 2000s, found a year-round home for Cheezy’s Grilled Cheese inside BJ’s Place, 2842 11th St. on Rockford’s south side.
Cheezy’s is part of a growing number of local food trucks that have used their mobile kitchens to springboard into a brick-and-mortar space. For DiBenedetto and Wilson, they hope the operation inside BJ’s Place helps build toward a “Big Cheezy’s,” the nickname they’ve given for a future brick-and-mortar restaurant of their own.
“Starting off as a food truck, you really find your niche. You find your brand, you find your identity and you find out who and what you really are,” DiBenedetto said. “If you can make it as a food truck, you can definitely make it as a brick-and-mortar restaurant.”
The niche for Cheezy’s is their twist on grilled cheese sandwiches and melts such as its top-selling chipotle Philly, which is served with shaved sirloin steak, American and pepper jack cheese, roasted red peppers, onions and chipotle aioli.
“The Philly is just amazing. I actually do dream about it,” said Brandon Strauser, a customer at the Cheezy’s inside BJ’s Place. “There’s just something about it: It’s so creamy and so delicious. For real, I dream about it.”
The chipotle Philly is one of the most popular items at Cheezy’s Grilled Cheese in Rockford. It features shaved sirloin steak, white American and pepper jack cheese, roasted red peppers, onions and chiptole aioli. (Photo by Kevin Haas/Rock River Current)Other popular items include the Big Cheezy, which has two smash burgers served with yellow and American cheese, grilled onions and Thousand Island dressing, and the BST, which is a bacon, spinach and tomato sandwich.
There are also soups, fries, macaroni and cheese and vegan options served with plant-based butter and vegan cheeses.
The meals can spark nostalgia for those who grew up with grilled cheese sandwiches, but these aren’t a Kraft single slapped between two pieces of Wonder bread like you may have made as a kid. All the bread comes freshly baked from Highland Baking Co. in the Chicago suburbs, and it’s buttered by hand and knife with salted Grade A butter, DeBenedetto said.
“We do that in the morning so all that butter absorbs into the bread, so once it hits that flattop, not only do you have nice crispy edges and crisp finish, you have that buttery inside of the bread,” he said. “That’s something else we do that takes that sandwich to a different level.”
Wilson said you can taste the freshness.
“Each one of our sandwiches you can taste the difference,” Wilson said. “We butter our bread fresh in the morning. We slice all our onions and tomatoes every day.”
Food truck and future plans
Wilson and DeBenedetto both had years of experience in the restaurant industry before launching Cheezy’s at the end of May.
DeBenedetto, a 2005 Guilford graduate, was a corporate trainer at Red Robin, had run an Adobe Gilas in Rosemont and was the general manager at District Bar & Grill in downtown Rockford. Wilson, a 2004 Guilford grad, also worked as a manager at District as well as well Onyx in Machesney Park and the former Stockyard Rock Burger Bar at North Towne Mall in Rockford.
Wilson was working at Stellantis when it was shuttered at the end of February, and transferred to Detroit to keep a job with the company. He was still coming back to the area on weekends until the business partners decided it was time to dive into Cheezy’s full time.
“We wanted to make a concept where we could be convenient, fast, but also give a fresh product that nobody else was doing,” DeBenedetto said. “That was the major key: Rockford doesn’t have anything like us.”
It started with a 16-foot trailer they built out and brought around the Rockford area in summer. DeBenedetto would make different graphics featuring the truck’s mascot, a skateboarder-inspired cartoon grilled cheese named Cheezy, showcasing some of their stops.
“We blew up really fast,” DeBenedetto said. “We were jumping around. We were hitting as much as we could.
“The community and the following and the backing that we got from so many people in town, it’s a beautiful thing. It makes us proud.”
About three months ago, they made an agreement with BJ’s Place owner Luke Meyers to take over a portion of the bar for lunchtime service. They’re also open into the early evening on Thursday and Friday.
It’s the latest Rockford food truck to add a year-round spot. Earlier this month The Olive Branch launched an online kitchen at Carlson Ice Arena in Loves Park. In December, Bop Bop Korean BBQ & Rice Bowl opened inside Rockford City Market after its first year as a food truck. Disco Chicken food truck is preparing to open a brick and mortar inside the former Taco Betty’s, 212 E. State St., in spring, to name a few others.
The goal for Cheezy’s is to have a third location within a year or so, with a brick-and-mortar restaurant reminiscent of Baked Wings’ model. Baked Wings, 6290 E. Riverside Blvd. in Loves Park, is tech-forward restaurant with online and kiosk ordering for fast service.
“I like how fast paced that is,” DeBenedetto said. “It’s in and out if you want, or you can stay at the bar.
“That’s the concept that we’re looking to design in the next year. I’m hoping we can have something rolling by the end of this year. Then we can have things in place at least to start something bigger.”
They plan to continue to serve out of BJ’s once the weather warms up and the food truck gets back out on the road.
“We don’t want to stop grinding,” DeBenedetto said. “We want to keep the momentum going.”
About | Cheezy’s Grilled Cheese
Where: Inside BJ’s Place, 2842 11th St., Rockford
Hours: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Wednesday; 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday; 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday; closed Sunday
On social: facebook.com/cheezysgrilledcheeses; Instagram @cheezysgrilledcheese
On the web: cheezysgrilledcheeses.com
Contact: cheezysgrilledcheese@gmail.com
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas
