The Return Of The Sandwhiches

As you may remember, way back in the day (2010) when we first opened business here, we served panini-grilled sandwiches. We served a few staples: the Homestead Stack, Reuben, Ham & Swiss, Grilled Cheese, the Breakfast Griller, and Chicken Salad, with a few others (like Chicken Bacon Ranch, BBQ Pulled Pork, and the BLT) on occasion.

We spent many hours trying to figure out the most efficient way to do this and how to keep labor as low as possible, but we never quite figured out the right equation. We hated the fact that customers had to wait on their sandwiches for a long time before we could get it to them, as much as we tried our best to be fast. After much contemplation and consideration, we decided we would replace the sandwiches with a hot food bar and large salad bar, thus focusing on more of our casseroles and smoked meats.

Customers were disappointed that we took away sandwiches, but the hot food bar and salad bar were popular as well and still served delicious food. The flow and efficiency became so much better, and there our customers no longer had to wait for their food.

We did hear a lot of feedback, however, that our customers would like to have sandwiches again. Jody proposed the idea of toasting our sandwiches rather than panini-press them, to help with efficiency. We mulled over this for quite some time, and did decide to purchase an Impinger (basically, an open oven with a conveyor belt). We decided to serve the same sandwiches, minus the chicken salad and with the addition of the Italiana sandwich (super popular, by the way!). We now serve our sandwiches on Ciabatta buns (with the exception of the Reuben, which uses Rye), rather than on regular bread. We love the difference. We still use our same herbal butter spread and Troyer meats and cheeses! If you have any feedback on our new sandwiches, we’d love to hear your thoughts below!