Nothing says "Dixie" like a New York-style deli. McAlister's operates and franchises about 300 deli restaurants in more than 20 states, mostly in the Southeast and Midwest. The restaurants, operating under the names McAlister's Deli, McAlister's Gourmet Deli, and the scaled-down McAlister's Select, serve club sandwiches, hoagies, soup, and salads, as well as secret recipe sweet tea by the gallon. The 100-item menu also includes many vegetarian offerings, including meatless chili nachos. Dentist Don Newcomb and his real estate assistant, Debra Bryson, opened the first McAlister's in a former gas station in 1989 in Oxford, Mississippi. The company is owned by private equity firm Roark Capital Group.