Steve’s Prince of Steaks is opening a cheesesteak shop at the Jersey Shore

With his children Ross and Abbe running his three cheesesteak shops, Steve Iliescu is easing his way out of the day-to-day operation of Steve’s Prince of Steaks.

Iliescu, a former auto mechanic who owned a garage in Bucks County, founded the shop in 1980 at Bustleton Avenue and St. Vincent Street in Northeast Philadelphia.

But Iliescu is looking toward the future, and he sees it in franchising. The first such offshoot is due to open around July 4 at 2701 New Jersey Ave. in Wildwood, formerly Classic Sandwiches. Iliescu declined to identify the franchisees.

“We’ve been asked about franchising for almost the 40 years I’ve been in business,” he said. “A few gentlemen I’ve been acquainted with for quite some time asked me if they could do a franchise, and we looked at the location and it looks real good.”

The new Steve’s — joining the original, a second at Comly Road and Roosevelt Boulevard, also in the Northeast (1999), a third at 1617 E. Lincoln Highway in Langhorne (2006), as well as food trucks — will feature the same menu, look, and feel as the flagship location. Iliescu said a local bakery that he declined to identify bakes his rolls from his recipe. The ribeye is cooked slab-style on the flattop grill.

Among Steve’s distinctions is creating a 480-foot cheesesteak, billed as the world’s largest, at a 2015 festival at Lincoln Financial Field.

Steve’s previous locations on 39th Street in University City and at 16th and Chestnut in Center City closed during the pandemic.