Cheesesteak maker KatchaSteak is warming up a permanent location in Kalamazoo

Editor’s Note: This story is part of Momentum: The people and companies shaping what’s next, a weekly series that explores new ventures, founder support, and the resources powering entrepreneurship and small businesses across seven counties in Southwest Michigan. This project is sponsored by Southwest Michigan First.

KALAMAZOO, MI — In Philadelphia, people take food seriously. That counts as much for take-out food as it does for sit-down dining. And it counts even more when the take-out food is a cheesesteak.

Why? Because everyone who sells them doesn’t make them well. And hardly anyone outside of southeastern Pennsylvania seems to know how to properly make the City of Brotherly Love’s iconic sandwich.

But Khalil Benn and Stanley Steppes have been working to end all that, right here in Southwest Michigan. Working as Katcha Steak, the two have been making and selling cheesesteaks at pop-up events and special gatherings since Benn relocated to Kalamazoo in August of 2025 to collaborate with Steppes. The men are now working to refurbish a former cafe-turned-eatery location at 1324 Portage St. into the first permanent home for the business.

“It gives us our own identity,” says Benn, who is executive chef and part-owner of the business. A native of Chester, Pa., in suburban Philadelphia, he says, “It gives us a home for customers and for people to come to rather than having to figure out if we’re doing pop-ups (random events) or if we’ll even be attending pop-ups.”

He and Steppes will use about half of the 3,900-square-foot space in what was the Soul Devine eatery to set up a comfortable location that expects to offer a little bit of Philadelphia. It will sell hoagies, Tastykake snack foods, Herr’s potato chips, and Italian water ice products (a sweet, fruit-flavored, semi-frozen treat). The cheesesteaks will give customers a lot of choices, including beef, chicken, salmon, and vegetarian options. The location will anticipate more take-out business but will have room to accommodate up to 30 diners. The balance of the space may be used to host small gatherings.  Steppes says the business will employ about six workers.

“My whole job was to come to Kalamazoo and start my own hospitality group composed of a bunch of different restaurants,”  Benn says. 

To that end, he and Steppes also operate Phence & Post Catering, an upscale catering business that specializes in southern cuisine.

Pop-ups for that business included a Super Bowl event that attracted about 300 people to the Kalamazoo City Centre downtown last February.

Benn says, “When we did the pop-ups, just from the way that the community took to the products, I knew we had something. And I knew I had something that Kalamazoo would take to and like.”

Steppes is an entrepreneur who says that while he has envisioned having Phence & Post evolve to become an upscale restaurant like Brick + Brine in downtown Kalamazoo, he expects that to be a longer-term project that will need revenue from Katcha Steak to become a reality. He says he would like to see Katcha Steak grow to include many other locations. 

“We want to take Katcha Steak and become a national brand,” Steppes says. “Just as Jimmy John’s has grown, we want to be in sports arenas and other places and operate our pop-ups here and there.”

Steppes says he hopes to have Katcha Steak up and running by late July or early August. Business hours are expected to be: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; from 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. 

Benn says, “I think people should be happy about it because it’s something new in the community. It’s family-friendly. It’s for kids all the way up to adults. And everybody loves a good sandwich.”