On the Side Sub Shop is a small sub shop located in walkable Olean.

 

The menu consists of subs, salads and wraps, Mexican, pizza, calzones, wings and fingers and special items. 

 

The average price for a full sub is around $12. The other dishes range in price from $3 to $18. 

 

The restaurant has three booths for those who want to eat in the shop. It is also equipt for pickup and delivery.

 

Owner Steve Douthit said the sub shop first was founded in 1974. 

 

As an Olean native, Steve and his brothers began their working career working at Tasta Pizza and On the Side Sub Shop at the age of 15.  

 

For them, college wasn’t an option. They worked since they were kids. When the opportunity came to purchase the business, Steve’s brothers jumped on it.

 

Steve ran a jewelry factory in Hawaii

until 1984 when his brother Dave called 

to offer him half of the business.

His other brother, Ben, was leaving the business

and Dave wanted a partner. The day after

the phone call, Steve boarded a plane

and came home to Olean and his new

business partnership.

 

Eventually, his brother Dave decided to

move. Steve joked Dave was supposed

to be moving closer to the business because he lived in West Clarksville, but Dave surprised him when he said he was moving to Wilmington, North Carolina. Douthit bought out Dave's half and began running the business himself. 

 

Dave, however, borrowed name and opened an On the Side Sub Shop in Wilmington. While his storefront isn't on the side of a building, it is on the side of a Kangaroo Gas Station.

 

On the Side uses only the freshest ingredients. They cut their own lettuce rather than buying it bagged, and all of the sandwich meat is sliced on site daily. "I use the best you can buy," Steve says. 

 

Steve says he still uses a rotary phone in On The Side. The phone will still work in a power outage and people will still be able to call in. 

 

Steve says he stayed in Olean for the people in the area and the friends he has made.