Our Story

Bill Specht was born in New Jersey. In the late ‘60s, he moved to Milwaukee. Unfortunately (but not really) he eventually found himself laid off from his job. And if that wasn’t bad enough, nobody in town was making those wonderful subs he had loved while growing up back East.

This being America, Bill sensed a real opportunity. So he asked his cousin Jim Sheppard to come join him. Together, along with their wives Sandy Specht and Mary Sheppard, they opened the first Cousins Sub Shop on June 19, 1972. When they closed for the day, they had raked in $39.

Determined to raise the better sub bar, the cousins enlisted the help of a local baker. Together they created their own unique recipe for bread. That bread became the cornerstone of our brand: “Better Bread. Better Subs.” It’s still true today. Our bread is baked fresh several times a day in every Cousins store.

After more than 30 years, we’ve grown to serve our fresh, wholesome sandwiches in more than 100 stores in six states. Every day, we continue our tradition of using only the highest quality ingredients. And after all this time, our delicious hand-crafted sub sandwiches still keep our customers coming back for more.