Our Founders
Sub Roc was founded to take advantage of the lack of professional deli’s located inside of office buildings. The founders realized a lack of professionalism, quality and consistency with the existing “Mom and Pop” delis, not to mention their appearance! Being in the deli business, with a combined fifty one years of quick service restaurant experience, we are very aware of what building owners and property managers expect and have been waiting for. To that end, we offer a cool, up-scale, affordable deli experience that will add value to their building, attract quality tenants that expect to have a quality food service available for breakfast and lunch with the ability to offer catering services, as well.
SubRoc’s founders are comprised of three talented and experienced restaurant/deli owners and operators.
Ms. Laura Watts is one of the original founders of Murphy’s Deli and has been active in all aspects of deli operations for Murphy’s Deli for the past twenty years. She has been involved in the operations, development, franchising, and ownership of both Murphy’s Deli Franchising and has owned and operated many Murphy’s Delis, herself. She most recently served as Senior Vice President of Marketing for Murphy’s Deli Franchising, Inc. From 1993 through January 2006, Ms. Watts served as President of Murphy’s Deli Franchising, Inc. She has assisted Murphy’s Deli Franchising with marketing and franchisee training from January 1993, until December 2011.
Mr. Tony Okde was been with Antone’s Import Co. from 1982 until 1998. During that time, he served as Buyer and General Manager from 1982 to 1989, and Vice President from 1989 until 1998. During that time he was responsible for all day to operations with a direct staff of more than 80 employees. Daily duties included training, product control, profit and loss control, inventory, budgeting, ordering, product development, catering and complete guest satisfaction. He was also responsible for all banking, marketing, wholesale operations and private labeling distribution. He grew the private labeling distribution from three supermarket locations to over 100 locations within one year. Mr. Okde is also skilled at restaurant construction, design and equipment. All during this time, Mr. Okde has continued to, and still does either own or operate several Antone’s in the Houston area.
Mr. Marc Graubart has only been in the deli business for a short time, but in that time, he has conceptualized SubRoc with Laura and Tony, and has successfully operated his own Murphy’s Deli. His specialty is real estate, and finance, so we keep him out of the kitchen! Mr. Graubart is responsible for all real estate procurement, store development, and company owned stores. Mr. Graubart holds a Masters of Business Administration from New York University. In December 2013, Mr. Graubart completed a buyout of Ms. Watts and Mr. Okde’s shares in the company and is now the sole owner.
