Philly celebrates its signature food as its airport sets a record for longest cheesesteak line
OK, ladies and gentlemen, first of all, *** round of applause for the effort today. You worked your butts off today for this record, hopefully. We’ve achieved it. That said, I’ll turn it over to the man himself, Michael, Michael. Hello everyone. Um, so for those of you I have not met, my name is Michael Emrick with Guinness World Records in New York City. I’m here today because this is an official Guinness World Records attempt at longest line of cheesesteaks. Now, at Guinness World Records, whenever we have *** new record title, we always set *** minimum. Based on similar previous records, we have lots of longest line of food records, and in this case, the minimum for this record title was 500 cheesesteaks. Now part of the Guinness World Records requirements are that the rolls have to be 30 centimeters long, which is 11.9 inches. They have to be filled with chopped beef and some sort of cheese product, um. Most of the cheesesteaks here have met that requirement, although I did see *** few that were trimmed to fill in holes and have been deducted from the total. Mm. I know this is when it gets awkward, and I have to run out the door. So again, the mark to beat was 500, and today. In Philadelphia. Pennsylvania USA. You had *** total. Of 1200. Congratulations. You are officially amazing. Great job. Let’s hear in Philadelphia Soldiers, baby. You, you killed me, Mike, you kill me, Mike, you killed me. You’ll kill me, Mike. So, uh, again, on behalf of Marketplace PHL and all of these folks who worked so hard and diligently to pull this thing off, we really, really, really appreciate all your efforts to Philadelphia, yet another record. We are the world champions of cheesesteaks, baby. So, as we said earlier, we want to have you enjoy all of this food with us. Thank you guys for coming. Thank you, media for coming. Thank you, Michael, for making us world champions. Go Phillies. OK, we gotta get our crews together and start wrapping up the cheesesteaks so for distribution. All right, so everybody helped us before wrap, come on back up, we’re gonna wrap them up for distribution. Thank you. Sure. Can we call all of the operators up for the photo, please? Be. The crew, the crew from Mamarosa.
By TASSANEE VEJPONGSA and LEAH WILLINGHAM Associated Press
Travelers passing through Philadelphia International Airport on Monday may have expected long security lines. But the longest line was made of cheesesteaks.Organizers say they achieved a new Guinness World Record for the longest line of cheesesteak sandwiches, with 1,291 lined up inside a departure hall to mark National Cheesesteak Day. The display far surpassed the previous benchmark of 500 sandwiches.“We went for the world record for the longest cheesesteak in history,” said Clarence LeJeune of MarketPlace PHL, a company that operates airport concessions. “Today we accomplished that goal here in Philadelphia.”The cheesesteak, which originated in Philadelphia in the early 1900s, is widely considered the city’s signature food. LeJeune called it “synonymous” with Philadelphia, alongside its sports culture.People in black aprons assembled cheesesteaks along tables set up in the walkway between Terminals B and C, filling rolls from silver buckets as they moved past storefronts.After the record was certified, volunteers handed out the sandwiches to travelers, airport workers and Transportation Security Administration staff, who have been working without pay during the government shutdown.LeJeune joked there are few hard rules for cheesesteaks, which is part of the “beauty of the experience” — except, he said, “You don’t ask for Swiss cheese,” referencing a 2003 moment when then-presidential candidate John Kerry drew criticism in Philadelphia for ordering one with Swiss.Michael Empric, a Guinness World Records adjudicator, said rules require all food used in record attempts to be eaten or donated.“In this case, they are going to TSA agents who definitely could use some lunch,” Empric said.
PHILADELPHIA —
Travelers passing through Philadelphia International Airport on Monday may have expected long security lines. But the longest line was made of cheesesteaks.
Organizers say they achieved a new Guinness World Record for the longest line of cheesesteak sandwiches, with 1,291 lined up inside a departure hall to mark National Cheesesteak Day. The display far surpassed the previous benchmark of 500 sandwiches.
“We went for the world record for the longest cheesesteak in history,” said Clarence LeJeune of MarketPlace PHL, a company that operates airport concessions. “Today we accomplished that goal here in Philadelphia.”
The cheesesteak, which originated in Philadelphia in the early 1900s, is widely considered the city’s signature food. LeJeune called it “synonymous” with Philadelphia, alongside its sports culture.
People in black aprons assembled cheesesteaks along tables set up in the walkway between Terminals B and C, filling rolls from silver buckets as they moved past storefronts.
AP Photo/Matt Rourke
Volunteers assemble cheesesteaks in a Guinness World Record attempt on National Cheesesteak Day at Philadelphia International Airport, Tuesday, March 24, 2026, in Philadelphia.
After the record was certified, volunteers handed out the sandwiches to travelers, airport workers and Transportation Security Administration staff, who have been working without pay during the government shutdown.
LeJeune joked there are few hard rules for cheesesteaks, which is part of the “beauty of the experience” — except, he said, “You don’t ask for Swiss cheese,” referencing a 2003 moment when then-presidential candidate John Kerry drew criticism in Philadelphia for ordering one with Swiss.
Michael Empric, a Guinness World Records adjudicator, said rules require all food used in record attempts to be eaten or donated.
“In this case, they are going to TSA agents who definitely could use some lunch,” Empric said.