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For Kevin Muller, the dream of opening up his own restaurant started when he worked at Friendly’s and began saving some money in his 20s.
Now, a few years later, he has multiple Crazy Crepe locations under his belt, and as well a couple of Meltology gourmet grilled cheese restaurants.
As of July 20, Selden residents and surrounding communities began to enjoy various grilled cheese combinations at Meltology’s new second location at 1070 Middle Country Road.
Sounds “cheesy,” but opening a grilled cheese shop was just something Muller always wanted to do.
“I wanted to try something different,” Muller said. “Grilled cheese is a classic comfort food that everyone could enjoy.”
Meltology has another location in Middle Island, a full-serve restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating, and recently closed their first spot at the Mount Sinai Shopping Center on Nesconset Highway.
“Our lease just ended over there in [in Mount Sinai] February actually, so we decided not to extend it,” said Muller. “The shopping center really kind of died out, so it made sense to open up our next location in Selden.”
Muller also owns several Crazy Crepe locations, and one of them happens to be right next door to the new Selden Meltology, so it happened to be the perfect situation.
The menu includes lunch and dinner melts, like the Buffalo Chicken Melt, handmade milkshakes, and all grilled cheeses are made on locally baked sourdough bread.
Meltology also features dessert crepes from the Crazy Crepe Café.
At the end of the winter, Muller said he and his team were ready to go and open the new location, but then COVID-19 hit Long Island and the opening had to be pushed to the summer.
“Everything was on pause, we couldn’t do anything with the construction, it was a tough time with employees and hiring people, so that’s why it kind of opened in the last few weeks,” Muller said.
He said the past three months have been a struggle, but now that Meltology in Selden is finally open, he is ready to get business going again.
“We’re through it now, and we’re digging out of the hole, and hopefully we never have to do that all again,” he said.
Muller decided not to have a grand opening for the new eatery but instead started out in early June doing only takeout and delivery on the down-low.
“We didn’t even tell anybody about it so we can train the staff and build into it,” he said. “I had to hire a whole new staff over there and I wanted things to go off nice and smooth.”
Muller said as restaurants and businesses start to reopen and people start to come out of lockdown, he hopes the new Selden Meltology will become the brand’s flagship location for future franchising opportunities and training.
Between the multiple Crazy Crepes locations and other Meltology stores, the owner said the brand has established itself over the last few years.
The feedback for the Selden location, he said, has been positive so far.
“We had some really good customer base to open up to,” Muller said. “Some people were really excited, you know because we had recently closed the one in Mount Sinai, so we have good notoriety in the area already.”
To learn more about Meltology and their other locations, visit their website here.
Top: A Buffalo Chicken Melt grilled cheese from Meltology
