Reece Soltani, Founder of Chachi’s, on Building a Community-Driven Sandwich Shop with Franchise Ambitions

Reece Soltani launched Chachi’s while three months pregnant, building the neighborhood sandwich shop from scratch using Canva, community outreach, and pure word of mouth. What began with flyers, gym connections, and tapping into every network she had quickly turned into a line out the door on opening day.

With a background as an innovation consultant and strategy advisor working with Fortune 500 companies, Reece pivoted into entrepreneurship after burnout and set out to build something profitable, people-first, and scalable. Today, Chachi’s is focused on long-term growth, franchise expansion, and bringing its house-made spreads into retail.

Please share a brief introduction and your business:

We're a neighborhood sandwich shop and are building a path to become a franchise business and plan to bring our house-made spreads into retail. These days, I’m focused on building something profitable, people-first, and scalable.

Prior to Chachi's, I spent nearly a decade as an intrapreneur and strategic advisor, working with Fortune 500 companies and executive teams to build new products, programs, and growth strategies inside large organizations. After years of operating at that pace, I burned out and made a hard pivot into entrepreneurship by opening Chachi’s while pregnant, learning the business by doing it myself.

Do you have a co-founder?

yes, but he's my husband - we have a really strong dynamic where he's more "creative thoughts in the clouds", and I am more "how do we get this done". When we started the business we anticipated we would butt heads, and came up with a system of "last say"... we decided early on, if we came to a decision where we couldn't agree, there would be a final decision maker who got to make the call.

Are you a mamaprenista?

It's true what they say, it takes a village. I started chachis when I was 3 months pregnant. My first hires were family, that was a disaster. However, having sisters and a mom nearby has allowed me to schedule regular shifts they take with the baby so I can have time or time in the shop to run things. but what it also forced me to do was systematize everything so I could plug and play managers, employees, expectations etc.

Take us back to when you launched? What was your marketing strategy?

Honestly, I didn't have one. I was building from scratch, I created the entire brand on canva, taught myself how to cultivate a brand that could speak beyond LA. From there I tapped into community, word of mouth, fliers around town that invited people to try us for free, any network I was in from my gym, my sisters friends, even their friends, I told everyone about our launch. On day one, we had a line out the door, it blew us away. Sales on our first day still matches the pace of what we have in year two, and we've tripled our revenue since.

Did you always know you wanted to be an entrepreneur?

yes - even my roles within the corporate world were around intrapreneurship, designing new products and programs

What accomplishments are you the most proud of to date in your business?

our community events - the biggest one we ever hosted was our summer slamwich, a sandwich eating competition. Over 200 people from the community turned up, vendors made more money than they had at any other event that year, the crowd was wild with joy and competitive energy, and people are still talking about it. I have since had people from all over Los Angeles reach out saying they heard about it and that they plan to enter next year.

What is one thing you wish you had known when you started your Entreprenista journey?

not sure yet, joined today!

When hiring, what is your go-to interview question?

Tell me about your parents' worklife? What did you grow up witnessing in their careers?

 What did you do before starting your own business?

Innovation consultant, strategy advisor

What made you take the leap to start your own business?

burn out - after nearly a decade in the corporate world, I literally couldn't take it any more. I knewI wanted to start my own business, I just didn't know what. So I quit, and figured it out.

Do you have any recent wins?

At the moment, we are about to sign a lease for our first brick and mortar and that will be a true win that we will announce.

What's one app on your phone that you cannot live without?

Unfortunately, Instagram - it is so core to my business, engaging with my community, giving something back to my community and driving sales.

Who are your customers?

Angelenos, lovers of good food

What's your top productivity tip?

move your body when you need to think, static energy doesn't produce interesting results, in fact I find it perpetuates anxiety. Go for a walk and think it through.

What's your favorite business tool?

Canva has been my lifesaver - I built the brand on that tool and we have since elevated our look but learning that platform and all it can do was essential.

What's your approach to work-life balance?

parts of my brand are my lifestyle, so it makes it easier to keep thins integrated. I take a walk with my kid every day, we live near the ocean, our brand is coastal, so I can collect a lot of content on those walks while hanging out with him. we are foodies and love to discover new things, so we made part of our brand highlighting the best places to eat in town with a yearly recommendations list that the community goes wild for. things like that.

How do you avoid burn-out?

by allowing myself to build for the long game. I want a 50-100million dollar exit. I would be burning out every week if my timeline was 5 years.... its not, I focus on building the foundations and allowing the fruits to grow every year. Pace yourself.

What advice do you have for aspiring Entreprenistas?

Bite off more than you can chew - any time I have had success its because I took a leap before I felt ready for it, then figured it out.

From hosting community-driven events like the wildly successful Summer Slamwich sandwich eating competition to preparing to sign a lease for its first brick-and-mortar location, Reece Soltani is building Chachi’s with a long-game mindset. The vision is ambitious, the foundations are strong, and the community remains at the center of it all.

If you’re a woman founder building something bold and thinking long term, Entreprenista connects you with the relationships, insights, and opportunities that help you grow with intention. Learn more about joining Entreprenista League.