Best Sandwich bars

[winton50]

I am looking at taking over a sandwich bar that has been wrecked by partners who can't agree over anything.

It will be a blank page start so what things do you all look for when you buy sandwiches?

what would you like to see in this sort of shop?

what do you hate?

[Hayles]

Got to look clean

Got to be friendly

Got to offer my favourite...... banana in french stick with ready salted crisps!

Hayles

[Admiral Collections]

Got to offer paninis and variety, and the best tuna mayo ever, preferably with red onions.

Steak and onions..on a hot crusty roll


Cheese salad with EVERYTHING


And definitely not a grill pan that looks like its cooked a billion bacon sarnies. Pretty much what Hayles said, clean, clean and double clean.


Nic :wink:

[Cornish Steve]

In priority order:

1) Cleanliness of store

2) Friendliness

3) Short wait time

4) Types of sandwich available (I like hot sandwiches in particular)

5) Price

6) Cleanliness of toilets

7) Snacks/desserts available

Of course, aside from these things, the three keys to a successful sandwich bar are location, location, and location.

[MarkPearson]

For me the pret-a-manger chain have it in the bag.

I love the flavour options they have, real quality sandwiches - Yum!

Their full menu is here:

http://www.pret.com/menu/

My favourites are:

All Day Breakfast (they use a really nice sweet tomato chuntney)

Crayfish & Rocket

[DarrenC]

Nah I'm not into that fancy wrapped up sarnie lark, give me a proper sarnie, made with proper bread, not this fancy italian stuff, a bap, beef salad, with salad cream.

[MarkPearson]

Hey Darren,

It must have been my days working for Gordon Ramsey - I have a well trained pallet

[Astaroth]

Depends what I want.... if I am in a rush I want the likes of pret where I can pick something up off the shelf which will taste ok and the whole transaction from walking in to walking out takes less than 2 minutes.

On the rare occasions I have time for lunch then I would much rather a place where all the sandwiches are made to order. A wide choice of fillings with no limits on the combinations - as well as a decent choice of bread/ rolls etc for it to go in. Quality and variety come top here over price or speed for me

[Jayne]

Hi Stuart,

We do made to order sandwiches on home made bread. The customer tells you what they want on there sandwich. It has worked well for us this way.

You will have to work out prices for each individual filling unit for this to work. eg. portion of fresh tomato 20p, possibly more expensive down south, they seem to like to over charge down there.

Salad boxes do really well and pasta salad in summer. I can tell you how to make great pasta salad bowls if you want to try them. Just PM me if you want any help.

Jayne :D

[Whistle Ink]

I love subway! Don't know if you've got the cash to take on a subway franchise thingmajig.

I like to see what's avaliable infront of me and the different choices of bread. It;s all mostly healthy, which is how I am trying to eat and the way they do it makes eating healthy more enjoyable.

However I used to live near a small butty shop and the bacon and sausage sarnies were well nice - I liked that small shopy feel.

But service is most important at the end of the day and I don't like it when I pay good money and they put little on and it looks a mess. Presentation of the food, the staff and the shop are key also.

A shop near us does salad boxes for £2.60 and give you some basic salad and then four helpings of spread, pasta, etc. It's a big box! I can give you a pic if you really want!!!!!! :D

[Ian J]

what would you like to see in this sort of shop?


That depends very much on where the sandwich shop is and what sort of customers you are hoping to attract as there seem to be big differences between what people want in different regions, areas and even economic groupings. The one constant though is speed of service as no-one wants to spend half of their lunch hour queuing for a sandwich.

Having lost a lot of money twenty years ago in an ill fated publishing venture right on your doorstep in Winton I moved to Newcastle and ended up owning a sandwich bar there which did quite nicely but I'm not sure that the stotties filled with ham and pease pudding would go down well in Bournemouth. :lol:

[mattk]

Sausage and bacon roll, with brown sauce. Hot, as Steve said.

Guaranteed winner.

[Jayne]

Oh good point Matt! If the business you are buying hasn't got a griddle, buy one. Nothing better that hot griddled bacon sandwiches on a morning to bring in the customers.

Make sure your extractor fan blows the customers way, for maximum smell selling :lol:

Jayne

[cqueen]

Get yourself a proffessional illuminated sign outside.

The only problem I have with pret-a-manger is its stupid f*king name!!

'pret-a-manger' who ever came up with that?!

It makes me angry so I dont go in :D

[lorraine1]

Make sure the person serving the sarnies does not touch the food then take the money, that puts me off buying a sarnie from anywhere. How many germs are there on money. Sorry to be a bit Howard Hughes about this :oops: :oops:

Good luck with your venture :D

[Jayne]

Hi Lorraine,

Did you know being too clean can be just as bad for you! You need to come into contact with bad bacteria for your immune system to work properly. Also did you know, those antibac stuff kills the good bacteria too. Bit of muck is good for you!

Jayne :D

[lorraine1]

I agree with you to a certain extent Jayne.

Sorry, but you can't sway me with the money thing, think about it. Money passes through so many hands and there was a test done on the amount of germs and other things on notes such as semen, coke, chlaymidia.....NO THANK YOU! :shock: :shock: :shock:

[Jayne]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

[winton50]

I agree with Jayne -we were all much healthier when I was kid and we didn't have antibacterial soap n that.

mind you the summers were longer, wagon wheels were bigger .....jumpers for goalposts...small boys in the park....




blimey I'm getting old!!!! :cry:

[Sarah-Ink Promotions]

Dont put mayo in everything like some I could mention - bleurgh!

[Mwebb]

I would say you need to have variety, but fast service. No body wants to wait for ages for a sandwich.

If you cannot afford a subway franchise...they are V.Expensive i would try and look at their business and service, and adapt it to a way that works for you

You can try the fast halthy food route. Subway don't do salad boxes, if you can "knock one up" quickly in a conveyor belt fashion, you could have a good business model to start from.
Healthy food markets are exploding, just look at Mcdonalds. They are not stupid, and do follow the market trends, but I beg you to please look at the nutrictional information before buying anything from them.......Fillet 'o' fish has far less calories and fat than most of their healthy option bagel/subway rip off things.

......And definitely separate people taking money to making sandwiches!!!!!

[Jayne]

I wouldn't touch a food franchise with a barge pole. I like to do what I want to do and take my own credit for what I achieve, not get lost in a big brand name.

I've been doing hot and cold sandwiches, fastfood (not the crap sort) and salad things for over 12 years now. Email me if you need any help.

Jayne :D

[SillyJokes]

As Steve said, location. most important.

We used to buy from the sandwich van, even though the sarnies were nasty, because it was easy.

Having said that, they went bust - so quality does count.

What about delivering into offices to suppliment income? what I wouldn't give to have a sandwich brought to me everyday.

Coronation chicken WITH THE NUTS IN!

Bacon and Avocado.

Tasty brown bread option. crisps, cakes and drinks including innocent smoothie types. REally good cakes will bring people in.

Dougnuts. These have been a success in the states yet you don't see them in the UK...yet.

Off the shelf sarnies AND made to order so you can be quick if you need to be. I find waiting for my sandwich to be made a real bore.

a website like this but people can order their sandwiches online in the AM and then pick up - wow that would be fantastic and you would get a better use of your time and spread the work load outside of lunch time.

http://www.serioussandwichpeopleltd.com/

[webit]

We used to have a great one;

Fresh bread (bloomers) that we sliced before you
Real Butter
Fresh Soup

This is quite a good book:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1857038053/qid=1141132886/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/203-1863297-7871106

[lorraine1]

Blimey winton 50, bet you had a pogo stick and a orange space hopper as well :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: sherbert dips, jubblys..... pear drops just don't taste the same nowdays......... :D

[Claire B]

whenever i go into Bath, I visit a sanwich shop called Fodders.

You order your sandwich and it is made infront of you, they have a great choice of bread and the fillings are good quality (proper ham, fresh salad, crayfish tails, nice choice of seasoning etc) It's then wrapped in paper with a big fat sticker to hold it all together.

Fantastic! plus there is a great cookie shop just around the corner if you are in need of pudding.

Basically, if i want a crap, run of the mill sandwich, i can whip one up at home, but if i have to pay for it, it has to be good. :D

[DarrenC]

Hey Darren,

It must have been my days working for Gordon Ramsey - I have a well trained pallet


Does he swear as much as he does on TV? :o

Anyway forget the sarnie shop, I'd rather eat a nice yorkshire pudding and roast beef :D

[winton50]

How interesting that not one person has mentioned price.

It seems to me that as a society we have rumbled the '10p baked beans ' game and are looking for quality and value

[webit]

I always go for quality over price - I think most people who are lucky enough to be in our possition do.

[dagr]

As a casual, walk-by visitor, my preferences are, in order:
1. Presentation (obvious cleanliness, can easily see the bread and fillings)
2. Choice (nice mix of old reliables and some unusual offerings)
3. Price


As a regular, my preferences are, in order:
1. High & Sustained Quality of bread and fillings (I can live with my favourite sandwich being off the menu occasionally if the owner didn't feel the food source was up to scratch).
2. Location
3. Choice (as above, with occasional new try-outs)
4. Price ("fidelity" card system?)
5. Speed of service
6. Welcome
(I'm assuming it's clean, otherwise I wouldn't go back, ever).

If you're aiming at regulars of the midday workers' break market, then try to offer some good alternatives to bread (bagels, soups, stovies, etc), as well as good coffee/tea.

Image is important, so do some homework on who your target customers are. For example, don't cover your counter with Mars bars, Twix, etc. if you're predominantly selling to "middle-class" office workers, even if it is lucrative.

Oh, and I agree with Sarah-Ink: Don't put mayo or anything else on as standard. I get annoyed seeing a menu board detailing all the ingredients, then find out that its got mayo or something that wasn't listed on it, with the owner saying " 'course it's got mayo on it - the've all got mayo on it!".

Back on the subject of correctly targeting customers: I was in Richmond a few months back, waiting for a train on the platform, ruing the fact I had no time for breakfast. I see a bagel fast-food place right on the next platform - brilliant! I've got 5 minutes to spare. I go in, no one in the queue, and order a bacon&egg bagel. Fine. The cynic in me gets my mouth to ask how long it will take. "Oh, about 10-12 minutes". Thanks, but no thanks, I've train to catch. Now maybe it's just me, but if I decide to buy food from a platform station, it's not for the "haute cuisine", it's for basic food served quickly.

[SillyJokes]

Just saw this UK sandwich trade fair advertised 3-4th of May 2006

http://www.dewevents.co.uk/sandwichshows/

this may be a great day out for anyone starting of thinking of starting a sarnie shop.

[Richard Conyard]

It's interesting how peoples tastes differ. The best sandwich shop (not strictly true - privately run canteen), that I've tried charged £2 for a cheese salad baguette that was rammed packed full of cheese salad.

I hate having to hand over a few quid for a limp sandwich where the ingredients would have cost 30p and took no time at all to make.

[clickprofits]

I always go for quality over price - I think most people who are lucky enough to be in our position do.

I agree with that - I am also another fan of the Pret crayfish and rocket (though I agree that Pret a Manger is a stupid name).

Offer some decent drink and snack options too - have been in plenty of sandwich bars where you are faced with a fridge full of fizzy drinks in cans and nothing else, plus boxes full of Walkers Crisps. People are becoming more health conscious and it would be nice to see more sandwich shops offer things like fruit juice and smoothies (even if just bought in ones like innocent) or even better freshly made on the premises...