Although he is not yet 30, Ryan Stahlhut has been with Penn Station for the past 11 years.

He walked in the Indianapolis location when he was 17 years old, worked his way up management while attending culinary school and recently realized his dream of owning his own business with his parents, Todd and Gloria, as his partners.

"This was my goal while I was in college," Stahlhut said. "The Northwest Indiana area hasn't been touched and my plan is to build four stores in Lake County."

Stahlhut and his parents own the franchising rights in Lake and Porter counties.

Penn Station East Coast Subs is an upscale, quick-casual restaurant chain, headquartered in Cincinnati, with locations in 12 states.

While there are no other nearby Penn Stations among the 212 located throughout the country, many locals are familiar with the product.

"The response we've received has really exceeded our expectations," Stahlhut said. "The first person who walked in the door the day we opened has come back here every day -- sometimes twice in a day. Some customers told us they were so happy they would no longer need to drive to Indianapolis to get their Penn Station fix."

Penn Station is known for its Philadelphia cheese steak sub sandwich. In addition, the restaurant also offers hot-grilled to order sandwiches and wraps including a vegetarian and a fresh-grilled artichoke sub.

The Stahlhut Restaurant Group examined several options before choose a final location in Schererville.

"The demographics and traffic here are really great, there's very high visibility," Stahlhut said. "The Teibels are our landlords, and they are great to work with."

The restaurant has dine in, carry-out and phone-in orders.

"I'm fortunate to have my parents as partners and am much happier doing this on my own," Stahlhut said. "When you are working for yourself, the rewards are on a higher level. I love doing what I do and making people happy every day."