It all began in a rural convenience store.

It was 1999, and past the aisles of junk food, the fridges of soda, and the selection of cigarettes and lottery tickets for sale, a small area at the back of the Oval Country Store in Oval, Pennsylvania offered fresh-made sandwiches and subs for customers who wanted something more substantial than chips or candy while stopping for a gas tank refill.

Brothers Duane and Darren Meixel hadn’t had much experience in making food for paying customers, but the previous owner of the store had set a precedent of fresh sandwiches at the store, and the locals expected the brothers to continue. And just how did their food compare to what had come before them?

“We did it better,” Duane says.

Eventually, despite the store’s location in the Pennsylvania countryside, their food started to attract people from thirty, even forty miles away. The dedication to quality and excellent flavors and ingredients brought hungry customers who wanted to stop for longer than the time it took to fill up their tanks. The brothers were getting tired of dealing with the gas, cigarette, and convenience side of the business, so they turned their attention to what they were truly passionate about: the food and the customers.

After tossing around a few name ideas, the Crazy Tomato was the one that stuck. The name, along with the “Tomato with its tongue out” logo designed by another Williamsport local was a humorous combination that struck those who the brothers showed as unique and memorable.

Finding their first location on what is known in Williamsport as the “Golden Strip,” a road lined with fast food chains and strip malls, was another stroke of luck. This area, so different from the rural convenience store that started it all, brought plenty of customers–way more than what they had expected, and they had to learn fast in order to keep up with the rapidly-increasing demand for their food.

And it really is the food that keeps bringing people back–the Crazy Tomato describes their subs as “Meixel-style,” which means it has as much to do with the preparation and presentation as it does with how it tastes. It starts with baking their rolls fresh every morning, then the order and proportion in which the ingredients are placed on the bread–meat and cheese on the bottom, veggies and finishing touches on the top–and even how it ends up looking on the plate. To the Meixels, the visuals are just as important as the flavor.

And when it comes to flavor, that’s just another aspect of the Crazy Tomato that keeps customers coming back. It’s no surprise that some of their more popular dishes are the ones that are more distinctive in terms of ingredients. One popular menu item is their Crazy Turkey sandwich; with just the addition of homemade coleslaw to a classic turkey-and-cheese sandwich, they’re able to present a new twist on an old favorite.

For those who want something a bit more complex, the Crazy Club is another option that shocks most who see it; a tower of a sandwich that includes ham, turkey, bacon, their homemade coleslaw, French fries, American cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, mustard, and mayonnaise, all stacked between their fresh Italian bread. And this sandwich is just another example of the Meixels’ commitment to presentation along with flavor.

When it comes to creating new recipes, the family decides on what they’re tired of eating and how they can combine ingredients to make these new and interesting dishes. Oftentimes, new menu items have evolved from something someone will come up with one day in the kitchen; for example, the Turkey Basil wrap, which includes basil pesto as one of the main ingredients, was an experiment that succeeded and made its way to the menu.

This is what makes the Crazy Tomato stand out among other family-owned restaurants in the Williamsport area. “It does make a difference,” Duane says about their attention not just to taste, but to the food’s preparation as well. And since family-owned businesses are so important, the Crazy Tomato is a vital cog in Williamsport’s economic machine.

However, as the restaurant grew, it came time for them to move locations. As lucky as they were to have started on the Golden Strip, where many people were happy to find a small, local business among countless fast-food franchises, the franchises started to grow into too much competition. At the very end of April 2021, after finding a new building to move to, the Crazy Tomato shut its first set of doors to relocate and renovate its new location.

For eight months, the people of Williamsport eagerly (and impatiently) waited for the Crazy Tomato’s grand reopening. Throughout that time, the owners and family members were getting questions nearly everywhere they went: Where are you moving to? When are you reopening? How much longer will we have to wait to eat our favorite pizzas and sandwiches again?

When the Crazy Tomato at last returned at the beginning of January 2022, in a building almost three times the size of its first location, the response was overwhelming. For the first few weeks, there was hardly a moment for the employees to breathe — Williamsport was so excited to have them back, and even with the unrelenting wave of customers, it was heartening proof of how much Williamsport and surrounding towns loved their food.

The Meixels know how lucky they are to not only have so much support from their community, but to be able to build this business with their family. With the Meixels, everyone is on board with how much work goes into every aspect of the restaurant. “When it’s family, everyone cares a little more,” Duane says.

“Our family has been blessed,” he insists, because of how much love they’ve received for their food for the past 23 years.

And they work hard to put all that love right back into their food, as thanks for everyone who’s supported them and will continue to support them as long as their doors remain open and ovens remain on.