Pickle/relish recommendation: McClures. Family owned and operated, and absolutely fantastic. They’ve got spicy and garlic options.
They were featured on “Best Thing I Ever Ate.” I believe Ted Allen was the one featuring them.
Remembered from MAD magazine:
*Hello, Deli
This is Joe, Deli
Would you please send up a nice corned beef on rye?
A box of Ritz, Deli
And some Schlitz, Deli
Some chopped liver and a sliver of your apple pie
Turkey legs, Deli
Hard-boiled eggs, Deli
With tomatoes and potatoes you French fry, oh,
Please don’t be late, Deli
'Cause I can’t wait, Deli
Deli, without breakfast I will die!*
This is pretty much what I came in here to say. As a vegetarian, I’d be a big fan of any place that had at least one decent vegetarian sandwich and an “honestly vegetarian” soup, even if the majority of the menu has meat.
Another nice veggie-friendly thing to do is to make sure that it’s indicated on your signs if you’re willing to make some or all of the meaty sandwiches vegetarian upon request. I feel more comfortable at places that explicitly state that they will do that for vegetarian customers.
Another idea:
the deli I buy all those -balls at has maybe 80% of their dishes which are “permanent” (different ones M-Th and F-S, since those are actually different markets - most people here are off on Friday afternoons so that lunch already counts as “weekend fare”), 10% which varies according to market (for example the fish a la romana: which exact fish depends on prices) and another 10% which changes.
They also mark dishes as “meatless”, “vegetarian”, “gluten-free” and “lactose-free” when it seems relevant (no need to mark the fish as ‘meatless’, but they’ll mark the salads, and the fish a la romana, white sauces and cakes are gluten-free: they use maize flour, not wheat)
I left my charger at the store yesterday and my computer is not going to last long this morning without it. This is going to shorten the already decreasing amount of time I can spend here and I can tell you I’m not happy about it.
Just to touch on a few things. I promise no miracle whip. :0) First lunch for dopers is free, forget the discount!
I’m not a big fan of soups, so I really appreciate all those suggestions. We’ve decided to add a small portable green salad cart, which we had not planned on before.
We won’t do fancy coffee because there are too many other places nearby that offer that already, but a decent cup of coffee with creams/sugars will be available. Fountain sodas and bottled teas, etc.
Did I miss a suggestion for a broccoli salad? I thought those were popular, but maybe not.
Crap, battery indicator is red. Have a good day you guys.
Clearly mark the vegetarian options. My daughter’s one of those (;)) and often has to search for the non-meat options on a menu.
Have a kids menu or offer kid size portions (half a sandwich, bag of chips and a small drink).
Check out Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor, MI. They do sandwiches right and are considered one of the best delis in the country.
If your crowd is local businesses, time is a huge factor for lunch. When I would go out with cow-workers, if a place took too long, it was removed from our list of places to eat. Also, some businesses will let you advertise or leave menus in their break rooms in exchange for a small discount. The last place I worked had several thousand employees, and all the local places offered 5-10% off. Be proactive and approach them. You are offering a service that benefits their employees.
Make a really, really good sandwich and provide excellent, efficient service. Seriously. I eat out a lot and am amazed at how many businesses are struggling, yet offer mediocre food and bad service.
Please keep us informed of your adventures. I’ll never do it, but I’ve always wanted to open my own corner pub (well, it doesn’t have to be on the corner). I’m always interested in hearing other people’s stories.
That’s a pretty standard “Turkey Reuben” actually.
I am a soup hound, so you asked for it. 
These are from my own personal recipes, which I will sell you for a small fee. ;>)
Favorite, all time, hands down: Broccoli cheddar. With shredded carrots and dill. Lots of dill. And thyme & basil. No chicken stock.
Vegetarian Veggie.
Veggie version of white navy bean soup (no ham hocks).
Potato-Leek. With shredded spinach and shitake mushrooms.
Veggie chili. Lot’s of veggies, chick peas, black beans, fake meat optional, preferably omitted.
Tomato bisque, but it MUST be served with a grilled cheese samich, no exceptions or substitutions. That’s like, the 11th Commandment.
Chicken Noodle is always popular.
Mushroom Barley - no beef, just shrooms, toasted barley and veggies.
Black bean & rice.
Curried lentils & wild rice.
Squash/root vegetable soup with onions and apples – should be savory with the tiniest hint of cinnamon. My favorite was something like pumpkin, turnip, summer squash, carrots, onions, & apples. Delish!
I can probably think of more.
Also, I have certain salad rules. In order for me to call a salad “good” it must contain at least:
•Greens, but absolutely, positively, under no circumstances do I enjoy a salad made with iceberg lettuce. Anything but iceberg. For the love of all that is green and crunchy.
•Carrots. I don’t understand why it’s so difficult to put carrots on salads, but it’s surprisingly hard to find.
• Some form of nut or seed: walnuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, even peanuts. I like a crunchy thing in my salad and this helps jack up the protein a bit for the vegetarians.
•Some form of cheese: gorgonzola, sharp cheddar, feta, mozzarella, asiago, doesn’t matter. This also helps jack up the protein.
•If you can add a bean or legume like peas or chick peas, that’s another protein to balance out all the greens in the salad.
…And to piggy back, 'round here Hello Again’s “Turkey Reuben” is known as a Rachel. It was mentioned before, but around here, Rachels seem to sub turkey for the corned beef in a Reuben, but everything else remains the same (I think). I haven’t seen a Rachel that’s corned beef but with coleslaw instead of sauerkraut, as was mentioned above.
And just noticed - I dunno about the ham. Rachels around here don’t have ham, I don’t think. (I don’t really know myself; I prefer the perfection of the Reuben so I’ve never ordered a Rachel.)
Another thought: Caramelized onions. (Those who hate the “c” word used this way please start your own thread!)
Each night before you shut down, put a big pile of onions, a couple of tablespoons of Safflower oil and a couple of cloves of crushed garlic into a crock pot and set it on “low”. In the morning you will have a brown yummy mass that can be added to any hot sandwich on request. It’s really amazing and makes the whole place smell incredibly good.
Which brings me to a more basic point - consciously address the smell that hits your customers when they walk in. You won’t be baking your own bread, so it’s not going to take care of itself. This + clean bathrooms factor higher than I care to admit in my restaurant choices. (lest I lose my “foodie” card.)
What will your hours be? Are you focusing on breakfast or lunch? Will you have evening hours?
It’s been more than a few years, but I’ve worked in several delis, from one in a gas station convenience store to a more high end place. I have all kinds of suggestions, but it depends on who your customers are.
I don’t know anything about Placerville. Is your location near office buildings, or in a strip mall, or near a residential area? Sorry if you covered this, I got sucked into soup recipes. Will you want to follow the Clam Chowder on Fridays convention?
Do 300 middle schoolers walk by at 2:45pm? Those kids have money. Sell snacks. Get a gumball machine.
Will you have seating, or just carry-out? What’s your kitchen set up like? Will you have a flat top? An oven? Or just microwaves.
How much room is in your salad case? I’d recommend keeping a fruit salad along with the savory salads. One place I worked sold a ton of rice pudding. Another place kept it, but rarely sold it.
(A lot of places around where I used to live called the RB on garlic bread that Dr Righteous described a Balboa. They are delicious, and now I want one, but they aren’t known locally. May have to settle for a cheese steak, which is good, but not the same. Hmm, might have to go home for a visit soon.)
To keep your menu small and your ingredients list manageable, limit yourself to one style of hot sandwich and one style of cold sandwich. Model your hot sandwich on the traditional Cuban sandwich using whatever bread works best in your sandwich press and offer other fillings with the same style: Cuban Reuben, Cuban Tuna Melt, Cuban Veggie, Cuban Ham and Cheese, etc. Then offer turkey, egg/chicken/tuna salad on another kind of bread (croissant or whole wheat roll) as your cold sandwich option. The roll can do double duty as an add on for those wanting soup or chili.
Reubens like a mother fucker!
This. My favorite sandwiches are always the ones where fried onions are an ingredient. I’m sure that the option to add them will be very popular.
Save for the ham, that combination is also called a Sputnik.
Generally, I get a grilled corned beef and swiss on rye, with mustard. Not your standard Reuben. I like Reubens, but the sauerkraut is generally too much for me. You really do need some awesome bread for your sandwiches, though. And though I’m an omnivore, there are times when I’m just in the mood for a vegetarian dish. I am weird, I like iceberg lettuce and don’t like Romaine or the other darker greens, other than spinach. I think that they are just too bitter tasting.
If you’re quick at making deviled eggs, that might be an offering. Only if you’re quick, though, and you also plan to offer egg salad. Even the most skilled deviled egg maker will mess up some eggs, and you put the messed up eggs in the egg salad. Deviled eggs can really dress up a platter, too, if you offer platters.
Soups? I like chicken and rice best, closely followed by broccoli and cheese. I love ham’n’beans, but prefer to make my own. My daughter will travel quite out of her way in order to get a good French onion. And if you can, you should offer cornbread squares or muffins for your chili.
Please take a look at the handicapped access threads, and make sure that YOUR deli doesn’t make it in one of those. This will be a big dealbreaker to many of your potential customers, if they are handicapped or go out with someone who is handicapped.
If you’re going to have a coffee station for people to add cream and sugar, make sure it is accessible by 2 or more people at a time. And preferably have it out of the way of other drinks and the order/pay lines.
There used to be a small deli in my office building who lured customers in after the lunch rush by making big, fresh baked cookies every afternoon. These were mass-produced, preformed frozen cookies, so nothing special. But they were warm and gooey, “only” cost a $1.25 and were a nice mid-afternoon treat. The staff used a small toaster oven to bake them so there were only about a dozen or so made everyday, but it was kind of fun to try and race down to get one before they were all snatched up. And if they were, you were already in the mood for something sweet so people would usually purchase something else instead. So a win-win for the deli owners.
This same place also used to have a small basket of hardboiled eggs by the register every morning. It was nice to stop in and quickly grab an egg, banana and a cup of coffee for breakfast sometimes. Again, I think they boiled a dozen or so per day, sold them for about 60 cents each, and were typically sold out everyday by mid-morning. Another easy way to make a few bucks.
Also, a basket of fresh oranges, apples and bananas. Some pre-made, pre-wrapped sandwiches, those little containers of hummus and crackers, yogurt are great for people who don’t have time to wait for something to be made. You don’t need a huge selection, just basic options so that people can get in and out.
If you’re going to be in an office park, you might want to think about little things like this.
Good Luck!
My absolute favorite has always been Zingerman’s “Stan’s Canadian Hotfoot”: Montréal smoked meat served warm, Switzerland Swiss cheese, hot mustard & New Mexico green chiles on Jewish rye bread. I just had one a couple weeks ago, my first in 25 years (Ann Arbor’s been a bit out of my way since then), and I was in heaven.
I know it’s been said before but for the love of GOD keep the place CLEAN!. Clean like you’d be willing to lick the counter on a dare.
And roast your own turkey. Buy breasts with the ribs and skin on, roast them, cool them, and slice them. Nothing says “I don’t give a shit” like pressed turkey loaf.
And for slicers - get a Bizerba. They are worth every penny.
In my deli, a reuben is corned beef, swiss, sauerkraut, and housemade thousand island (because I take my reuben seriously and commercial dressing is crap) on rye bread. I have to go commercial on the rye as well because my normal bread bakery doesn’t use caraway seed. A rachel is a reuben with turkey instead of corned beef. That’s it. Both sandwiches are equally popular overall, so if you honestly may as well do both.
As far as the dressing goes, if you can’t find one you like on the sandwich, it’s easy to make: sour cream, chili sauce, diced and blanched onion, horseradish, and salt/pepper. I add a bit of HP Sauce and a tasty local deli sauce to get mine to taste right.
And do not ask for cole slaw. Slaw has no damned business on a proper reuben.
A bit of background on the place I’m running now. We’re known for our soups, with eight of them daily. Three constants (chicken noodle, chili, and a champagne cream of mushroom) and five rotating daily specials from a rather large list. We also have deli sandwiches (premade or to order), pizzas (commercial supplies there. Don’t have the gear to make our own dough), cookies, and three cold salads in the case (a tuna pasta, a chicken salad, and a standard potato salad)
My best selling soup is my chicken noodle. Nothing else comes close. It’s incredibly simple to make, and I go through a pot a day every day. All my other soups can do that from time to time, but the chicken noodle does it like clockwork with heavier sales during cold and flu season. I’d say it’s a must for a deli. You’ll know you’ve got it right if people come in to get it when sick or for a sick family member.
As far as the other soups, I go through a lot of chicken gumbo (with a good dark roux) and cheddar/ale soup (with a good ale. No cheap lagers). Chili is good, but a solid white chili will do better. You’ll want a couple of vegetarian soups in the rotation. A tomato soup with a grilled cheese for rainy days. I do an italian wedding soup that flies out, but it’s a pain to make (hand rolling 200+ meatballs takes some time) so it only comes out once a month. I’ve an assortment of spicy soups that I go through. They don’t fly, but they’ve got a consistent following as you can’t find a good spicy anything in my area.
The cookies are highly recommended. Keep it simple if you’re going to make them. You can’t go wrong with chocolate chip. A nice shortbread cookie can do pretty well too.
Another good seller is hard boiled eggs. Easy to make. Cheap. People grab a couple in the morning. Maybe a couple with lunch. If you’re going to be making egg salad anyways, boiling up a few extra eggs and keeping them in a cooler is a good idea.
Make your own croutons. You’ll likely have surplus bread, so just cube it and toss with butter, garlic, herbs, etc. Bake them off and you’ll have a deli that will make people hungry just by walking past.
That’s about all I can think of. As has been said, the most important thing is to have a few things that you always do and that you do better than anyone else. Good luck. 