Our Story
Three friends, two cuisines, one very stubborn wall.
It started the way most great ideas do — in a group chat at 11pm, arguing about where to eat. Chase Webb, a man of bold opinions and an even bolder appreciation for strong, centralized leadership (his Netflix watchlist is exclusively documentaries about dictators — the man respects a vision), declared that San Diego needed a restaurant as decisive as he was. Grant Aukland, a civil engineer by trade and a guy who has literally spent his career making sure things don't fall apart, immediately started sketching the structural load requirements for a wall on a napkin. Jack O'Boyle, a machine learning engineer who had been quietly feeding menu combination data into a model for two years "just in case," pulled out a spreadsheet of optimal fusion dishes before anyone had agreed the restaurant was actually happening.
The concept was simple: they couldn't agree on whether to open a Chinese restaurant or a Schwarma spot. So they did both. Grant engineered the wall down the middle. Chase named it and declared himself CEO. Jack's algorithm picked the Fusion Corner items, then Jack offered to cook them — with his feet.
One is a founder with an unsettling appreciation for authoritarian leadership styles. One is an engineer who keeps asking about permits. One is a chef who has never used his hands in a kitchen. And one is Dick Cheney, who nobody invited but who has already restructured the company twice. Together, they are Great Wall of Schwarma.
The Founders
Chase Webb
Founder & CEO
Chase founded Great Wall of Schwarma on a simple belief: that the greatest leaders in history all had one thing in common — a wall and a vision. A self-described "big picture thinker" whose documentary watchlist reads like a syllabus for a college course called "Strongmen of the 20th Century," Chase has spent years studying the management styles of history's most decisive, iron-fisted rulers and applying their lessons to casual dining. He wrote the mission statement in one sitting. It is three pages long. Nobody has read all of it. As CEO, Chase sets the direction, approves the vibe, and reminds the team that Augustus Caesar also faced skeptics early on.
Grant Aukland
Head of Innovation
As Head of Innovation, Grant brings the kind of forward-thinking, boundary-pushing creativity you get from someone who is a Staff Engineer at Water Works Engineers in San Diego and a proud graduate of San Diego State University. His innovations to date include: a structurally sound restaurant dividing wall, a drainage system that exceeds code requirements, and a suggestion that they maybe get a POS system before opening. Grant's vision for the future of Great Wall of Schwarma is "compliant, well-permitted, and built to last." Chase calls this "thinking too small." Grant calls it "not getting sued."
Jack O'Boyle
Head Chef
Jack O'Boyle is Great Wall of Schwarma's Head Chef and the only culinary professional on staff, a title he earned by being the only one willing to actually cook. A Machine Learning Engineer by training, Jack approached the kitchen the same way he approaches everything else — with data, a model, and an unconventional methodology. Specifically, Jack cooks exclusively with his feet. When asked why, he points to his proprietary research suggesting that foot-to-pan contact improves "thermal intuition" and "flavor authenticity." The health inspector has been notified. Chase says it is "on-brand." Grant has calculated the liability. The food is, against all odds, excellent.
Dick Cheney
Co-Founder & Chief of Operations
Dick Cheney joined Great Wall of Schwarma after Chase cold-emailed him at 2am with the subject line "INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY — EYES ONLY." Cheney responded within four minutes. He has not explained why he was awake. As Co-Founder and Chief of Operations, Cheney handles vendor negotiations, back-channel sourcing for the pangolin program, and anything the other founders describe as "legally gray." He has restructured the company's holdings through three shell corporations in the past month. Nobody asked him to. When Grant raised concerns, Cheney handed him a document and said "you've already signed this." Chase considers having Cheney on board the single greatest achievement of his leadership tenure, narrowly beating the name of the restaurant.