When Shaz Khan was first preparing to ditch his electrical engineering career to start a restaurant with his friend, he had just one big question.

"What the heck is a cheesesteak?" Khan had asked co-founder Antonio Gambino, whose Philadelphian-Italian family had already made Andrea Pizza's "biggest slices in town" a hot commodity in downtown Minneapolis skyways.

Armed with a knack for cooking and a host of family recipes, Gambino wanted to bring the world-renowned Philly cheesesteaks to Minnesota. And Khan has since become an expert on both the sandwich and the pie, having opened Frank & Andrea, a late-night staple in Dinkytown, in 2016 and a series of Tono Pizzeria and Cheesesteaks since 2019.

Originally intended as two restaurants in the same space — Frank from Philly for cheesesteaks and Andrea for pizza — Frank and Andrea merged when Khan made them a shared website, a move to enhance the mobile and online-ordering experience.

The first Tono location in Maplewood grew out of a planned second Frank and Andrea location. The new restaurant was meant to elevate the cheesesteak-pizza fusion to a dine-in experience. Khan and Gambino actually own Tono as partners of a local capital investment group, MVK Capital, made up of partners from the engineering, hospitality, realty, construction and logistics industries.

Ever since, Tono has expanded at almost a yearly cadence. The seventh location of this pizza-and-cheesesteak-slinging restaurant opened in southwest Minneapolis in September.

And Khan has no plans to slow down. He plans to launch the Inver Grove Heights location before Thanksgiving, Apple Valley before the end of the year and Elk River in early 2025.

In an interview edited for clarity and length, Khan shares how Tono grew so quickly:

Despite nearly a dozen locations, you stress Tono is not a chain. How do you keep the local feel while expanding so rapidly?

We make sure that everybody from our customers to our staff understands the history. We make sure to tell the story of Antonio's family, his mom, his dad, their influence on the recipes. We have partnerships with local charities. We embed ourselves in our communities — not for the sake of business but for the sake of integration — because we want to be part of those neighborhoods. It's very much about building an experience that is authentic to not just our brand but also that particular location.

What are you spending on advertising and marketing?

We're fortunate to be a favorite of people now. As soon as our signage goes up, people just kind of hear about us, and they start asking, 'Hey, I saw your sign up. When are you opening?' That's pretty cool. So there isn't too much on the advertising side before we open.

What makes Tono's expansion possible?

Having the right people in the right seat. If you try to do everything yourself, you're not going to do it well, or you'll fail doing them all. But if you have a strong team that supports you, and you support them, you're able to do great things together. And I think that is the backbone of our Tono operations.

What tips do you have for local entrepreneurs looking to break into the restaurant industry or expand their existing businesses?

If you have an idea, and you want to be in business, talk to other people who are doing what, seemingly, you want to do because there's so much insight to draw from people who have those experiences. There's no shortage of ideas. It's all about execution. Really understanding who you are as a person and what your motivations are, I think, is very important. You have to be obsessed about doing it. Because if you're not obsessed, someone who is obsessed is going to do it better. If you're not obsessed, then how are your customers ever going to become obsessed?

What else do you want people to know about Tono?

I want people to reach out to me because whether they're new or aspiring business owners or other people in the restaurant community, I look forward to having those conversations. Connecting with members of my community is paramount for me.

Why do this?

I don't need to do things just because they're solely of benefit to me. Sometimes, we do things because we don't know what the outcome might be and because it's the right thing to do, as well. Connecting with people who want or seek to connect, I think, is doing right by others. Not everything is about business and not everything is about utility. Sometimes, it's just about connecting with other people for the sake of connecting.

Caleb Fravel is a University of Minnesota student reporter on assignment for the Minnesota Star Tribune.