Published November 29, 2023 | Updated November 4, 2026

Reading the news that the Wertheim family sold its last Little King location inspired me to visit the Old Market store. I found it to be inviting and modern with an updated logo and branding. The Royal Treat sandwich, however, is exactly as I remembered it.

The stroll down memory lane got me thinking about how Little King became a fixture in the first place, and just how much the city’s original sub shop has evolved. The story starts with Sid Wertheim, the son of a Brooklyn taxi driver who arrived in Omaha after landing a sales job.

Growing up in New York, he developed an affinity for submarine sandwiches and spotted an opportunity after learning that only one restaurant served subs in the area. Sid always had a desire to work for himself, so he eventually quit his day job and entered the restaurant industry. To do so, he bought an East Coast sandwich franchise called Little King. It was based on The Little King comic created by Otto Soglow in 1930. After Soglow’s contract with the New Yorker came to an end, King Features picked the comic up in 1934.

Sid opened his first sub shop at 80th and Dodge Streets in 1969. After the first week of business, he never heard back from the franchisor despite paying the required fees. Frustrated with the lack of support, he scheduled a meeting with owners of the other franchises. Upon discovering that they too got nothing back, Sid proposed breaking away from the corporate office.

While Sid was not sure of the fate of the other locations, he would go on to create a corporation of his own. He hired an advertising firm to develop a new look for the king, which was quite a bit different from the original character. That got him into hot water with Burger King, which thought his new king looked a little too similar to its own. Like David against Goliath, Little King fought back and won.

In Omaha, Little King proved to be a hit with its freshly baked bread as well as the meats and cheeses that were sliced in-house. The subs were dressed with fresh garnishes including tomatoes, onions, and lettuce. Sid filed for a trademark for his own version of Little King and began selling his own franchises, which got the attention of King Features, which demanded royalties. Sid didn’t take too kindly to the threat and said he could rename the chain just about anything and it would be just as successful. Nothing else happened after that.

The sandwich chain grew rapidly, and at one point it had 100 locations. Ready to step back from working 70 to 80 hours per week, Sid sold the company to Arizona-based Mammoth Resources in 1991 but kept 12 locations in Omaha and Council Bluffs. The company moved its headquarters to Arizona and fell on hard times that led to legal disputes and ended with a Chapter 11 filing.

Sid’s attorney said that he was disappointed with the bankruptcy filing but optimistic that the company could be saved. Sid said he was “flying high” after he bought the company during bankruptcy proceedings in 1993. He even planned to move its headquarters back to Omaha, 24 years after he started with a single location. By the time he sold it to New York-based Jreck Subs Group in 1997, it had 51 locations.

Its new owner, Jreck, planned to expand Little King even further with the acquisition. While Jreck had around 250 restaurants, Little King struggled under its ownership. Its footprint continued to shrink, and just two years later, Sid stepped in yet again and bought Little King back. This time around, he operated the chain as a franchise company.

After Sid retired in 2001, his son, Bob Wertheim, took over Little King. He added partners in 2012 and sold the restaurant chain to Omaha-based Lockwood Development in 2021. With no experience in the restaurant industry, Chip James, the president and CEO of Lockwood, told the Omaha World-Herald, “It felt right for something we could help revive.” He added that Little King is “one of those great companies that was started here and has a great reputation. There is quite a runway for Little King to be bigger and better.”

More than 50 years later, the sandwich chain lives on with six locations even after Bob sold the building and closed the family’s last shop at 140th and Q Streets in Millard in 2026. Bob told the newspaper that he closed so that he could travel and spend time with family. That includes his father, Sid, the New York native who brought the East Coast sub shop to Omaha and now lives in southern California.

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Sources

• Omaha World-Herald archives
• Lincoln Journal Star archives
• Grand Island Independent archives
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_King
• https://littlekingsubs.com/
• https://strictlybusinessomaha.com/news/business/little-king-celebrates-50-years/
• https://www.omahamagazine.com/uncategorized/little-king-and-lawlor-s-surviving-and-thriving-through-the-years/
• https://www.omahamagazine.com/business/royal-rebrand/