Philadelphia has set a world record for the “Longest Line of Cheesesteaks”, with 1,200ft of the city’s iconic sandwich stretching across the B/C connectors at the Philadelphia international airport (PHL).
The airport achieved the record on Tuesday with help from more than 100 employees and volunteers, who assembled foot-long rolls using 990lbs of Philly’s Best Steak and 225lbs of cheese sauce. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the full line took about an hour to complete.
Several airport restaurants rolled out to help attain the meaty goal including Chickie’s & Pete’s, Geno’s Steaks, Jim’s South St Famous Cheesesteaks, Passyunk Steaks and Tony Luke’s.
After the build, Guinness World Record official Michael Empric authenticated the event, confirming that every roll was touching to qualify for the record.
“What I love about this is that it’s so specific to the Philadelphia community,” he said, adding: “To do this in the airport and to donate so many of the cheesesteaks to TSA is really incredible. It’s such a community spirit sort of thing,” CBS reported.
Speaking to the outlet, PHL marketing and guest experience manager Dana Krawchuk noted that the airport has more restaurants serving cheesesteaks in a single location than anywhere else in the city.
“The airport is really the entry point for everybody coming into the city … so we wanted to really start off really big,” Krawchuk said.
After the record was officially recognized, the cheesesteaks were distributed to airport staff, including TSA officials, many of whom have gone weeks without a paycheck due to the ongoing partial DHS shutdown that began last month.
Speaking to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Chickie’s and Pete’s CEO, Pete Ciarrocchio, said: “Breaking the world record is always awesome … But one of my favorite things today was feeding the TSA with the cheesesteaks because this city is the City of Brotherly Love and these people are working without pay. Without them, nobody can be in this airport.”
