I second that. Although, I don’t really like mayo, but I do work for the company that makes Best Foods mayo.
Thank you! I love carrots. Good thinking on the nuts and beans on the salad cart.
I was drawing a blank on what to provide other than greens and tomato.
I got out one of my cookbooks this morning and went to the soup section. I was unimpressed by what was there, but your list above sounds great.
So, just how much is it gonna cost me to get the black bean and rice and squash/root veggie soups. Those two sound like they’d be a good fit up here. 
Apple hill is just up the road and very popular with locals and tourists alike. And the black beans that were a staple for me growing up are finally getting popular here too.
I’m leaning towards having two soups a day. Chicken noodle every day. And switch up the other choice like Minestrone on Mondays, Clam Chowder on Tuesdays, etc.
Harborwolf, I swear I typed the above before reading your post. Sounds like my thinking on the chicken noodle soup is a good way to go. Thanks so much for all your suggestions.
Trucelt, those onions sound scrumptious and so easy. I’m for sure gonna try that.
Gwendee, we are only planning to open from about 10:30 to 3:00. So lunch only.
We may open 7 days a week, but not sure yet. This is all subject to change though. We will open earlier and stay later if it looks like we need to. This place is in a little courtyard just off main street in downtown historic Placerville. There is a lot of foot traffic. I hear that July and August are slow due to heat, but it’s so cool in the courtyard that we may be better off than some.
They do have a lot of events like jazz concerts and stuff in this courtyard too. Our deli will seat about 22 indoors. I’m guessing there are about 30 seats outside. the courtyard is shared with the other business’s that are in this building. A hotel on one side, a gelato shop in front.
I was there all day today and had several people open the door to ask when we’re opening and tell me how excited they are.
I think that we would actually have to try to fail not to succeed. I’m a clean freak, so I know that won’t be an issue. I’m finally over my irrational fear of not knowing how much bread to have on hand. Now I am freaking out about what Point of sale system to use.
Thanks again everyone for all the support. I am so grateful that I found this board last year.
Post back with how it goes, I’m excited (and extremely freakin’ hungry!) after reading this thread. Also, shocked that my mom apparently named me after a sandwich.
Seconding some things other people mentioned up-thread:
- Have a few non-sammich non-soup non-salad options for non-peak lunch people who want to snack instead of having a full-lunch or are grabbing elevenses or post-lunch-crash foods.
Good choices I buy when I see them:
Deviled eggs and hardboiled eggs (sugar AND salt nearby, please!)
Snacky veggies (cuke, carrot, and celery sticks, sliced raw peppers and roma tomatoes (so that the tomatoes aren’t all drippy) and raw mushrooms are good choices. I know lots of people who wouldn’t be caught dead at a salad bar, but will eat the everloving shit out of a raw veggie plate.
*Portable *hot bready/savory substances - think covered meat pies or savory turnovers (a really good one from the caramel onion and roast beef would go nicely, as well as a vegetarian one - sub some lovely grilled portobello strips for the meat… mmmmm.)
Sweet stuff, but in SMALL quantities - no big huge cookies the size of your face! A nice selection of counter-stable high-end chocolates and gums is a good idea also. Lots of stuff can go here that you don’t make yourself, but will be a good addition to your countertop. Any local sweet-shops around? Ask them if they want free advertising and extra counterspace to show their wares. Think big taste in small packages, and hit all of the important sweet groups - chocolate, coffee, tart/sour, fruit-flavored, and straight-up sugar rush. 
2) Most importantly for me and lots of my friends:
OFFER HALF SANDWICHES and HALF-SIZE SOUPS!!!
I *hate *going to a deli and having to pay full-price for this enormous sandwich (regardless of how good it is) because I know I’ll get about a third or half way through it, and it will never ever taste as good as a leftover when I take it home.
It also sucks because most times there are great little side items like lovely cold salads and veggies or handcraft salads, and if I can’t get through even half of my sandwich, how am I going to enjoy these side dishes that look/smell so wonderful? And I don’t want to order JUST a side item, because then I get the stink-eye from the deli people. Please don’t be those deli people. Please make our lives easier.
In other words: Please for the love of all that is holy to you, be nice to those of us with small appetites! We may not eat much, but we do eat, and we’ll be so damn loyal!
Pasties are common in my neck of the woods, but they might be different enough to sell well in your area.
Not sure about half soups. As long as you have a few different sizes (12/16/32 oz), you shouldn’t need half soups. That said, half sandwich with small soup flies at my place.
One thing I forgot to mention is frozen soups. When I took the place over, that was how we took care of our extra soups to cut back on waste. Put them in quart containers and stick 'em in the freezers for customers to grab. It’s a bit of a weight on my shoulders now that the soups are selling well, but I still wind up making some just to freeze for part time and seasonal residents to take back to their far away homes. Works well because they share the soups with their friends who then come back for the fresh stuff.
And in the spirit of sharing, I’ll pass along any recipes you want. I think you’re safely far enough away to not compete. Send me a message and I’ll grab some of my popular ones.
I think I may be the third person to mention Zingerman’s Deli in Ann Arbor. Check out their menu. I’ve been to many deli’s in my life and theirs is number one BY FAR and the reason is they have high quality ingredients. The sandwiches are expensive as hell but well worth it. I live about an hour away and we go a few times a year. It’s always jam packed.
Make sure you give us the name of your place when you open. I have friends and relations all around that area, and will gladly send them to you.
Oh that is so nice. It will be the Courtyard Deli.
I’ll never be able to show my face around here again if we suck. We better not suck.
Ok, now that the Miracle Whip issue has been addressed…
I can’t agree more with those who stress the importance of good bread. It adds so much to a good sammich or bowl of soup.
Being a California native I’m also a big alfalfa sprout fan, for sandwich topping instead of or in addition to lettuce, and as a salad bar item. I also acknowledge the health risks of purchasing sprouts that are grown elsewhere, but they are quite easy to grow yourself, but you’ll need a good bit of space in order to have fresh daily batches available. And if it is something that goes fast, you may encourage some traffic with people trying to get their orders in when there are still sprouts left. 
I’m also a huge garlic fan, and my favorite pasta salad right now is available from the deli at the Arcata Co-op. It is called Garlic-lovers pasta salad, and a small container of it is usually packed with at least 8 or 9 decent siced cloves of roasted garlic. Their recipe uses buttermilk instead of mayo, and is really delicious which is quite something for me to say, as I love mayo and mayo-based salads.
Speaking of mayo-based salads, a dearly departed neighbor of mine had the best recipe for potato salad that I’ve ever had in my life. I had the recipe for awhile in college but lost it, and I can’t remember the specifics. If I recall, he cooked the potatoes ahead of time and then soaked them in vinegar in the fridge overnight, draining off the excess vinegar in the morning. It also had a pretty high concentration of hard boiled eggs mixed in, as well as chopped dill pickles and olives. And, of course, Best Foods mayo.
This is an evil thread.
I’m sorry.
Make a Philly style Italian Hoagie—and they will come.
The proper roll is crucial. I no longer have the luxury of living in Philadelphia, with access to the finest hoagie and cheese steak rolls—D ’Ambrosio and Amoroso’s—but, I make do with a reasonable facsimile (Publix Hoagie Rolls). You can do the same (or import some Philly water and bake your own—the tangy Philadelphia water is what makes these rolls great).
There are slight variations to constructing a proper Italian Hoagie, but you can’t go wrong following my recipe:
Hollow out some of the soft bread inside the roll to make more room for the delinnards (I’d like credit for this new word). Liberally slather extra virgin olive oil on the inside of the roll and sprinkle with Italian herbs; two layers of provolone cheese; one or two layers each of the following thin-sliced meats (good ones, like Boars Head): Genoa salami, capicola Ham, prosciutto…and, if you’re feeling spunky, mortadella and sopressata. Then, stuff the pocket liberally with the veggies (ladled from a bowl of shredded lettuce, onions, banana peppers and tomatoes that have lounged a while in e.v. olive oil, oregano, basil, salt and pepper). Sprinkle with some dried red peppers—bon appétit!
…Even better, turn it into a grinder by putting a final layer of provolone atop the veggies and toasting in a pizza oven till the cheese is gooey. And, if anyone asks to substitute mayonnaise for the olive oil, toss them out on their ear.
Better still: forget all the other suggestions proffered here and just specialize in Philly Hoagies, Grinders and Cheesesteaks.
Besides the venerable Philly Hoagie and Cheesesteak, here are a couple more suggestions:
Two sandwiches I haven’t eaten in over 30 years, but whose taste resides happily in my memory banks:
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The Hot Jewish from the Wurst House (sadly turned into a pizza shop, apparently sans Hot Jewish), West Philadelphia—a sandwich that was <Rob Lowe voice, Parks & Recreation>literally 10 feet tall/> fatty: hot steaming pastrami and corned beef, provolone cheese, sauerkraut, cole slaw, Thousand Island dressing on rye (or hoagie roll).
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The Hot Corned Beef & Chopped Chicken Liver on Rye from Corky & Lenny’s, Cleveland, Ohio.
So, you’ve just got to put those on your menu. Also, offer a good smoked whitefish salad as a bagel accoutrement alternative to lox. And put thick slices of Vidalia onion on your liverwurst sandwiches!
Just saw this thread. We’re in Sacramento and my mom lives outside Placerville. We get up there like once a month. We would totally turn out for your opening. Is your location where the Courtyard Cafe was?
I’ve got nuthin’ to add to the wonderful suggestions here, except to say that if you’re using local ingrediants, let you customer’s know. Apples from up the street, veggies from local farmers, bread from local bakery? Let them know.
I’ll gladly spend extra money at places that I know are supporting their fellow businesses.
Yep. That’s it. While we were working there today, about twenty people opened the door and asked if we were open or when we were planning to open. Downtown was hopping today.
So Encouraging.
I’ll let you know when we are opening. Hoping for late December. It will be so great to meet you!
We do hope to do that as much as possible. We want the support of the community, so we want to support them as well.
Y’all made me spend wayyyyyy too much at the grocery store deli counter today. : snigger :
I bought at least 1/4 lb of pretty much everything, but it all started with the really big pepperoni they had displayed. This thread plus that reminded me of my all time favorite ever sandwich: Grilled muenster and pepperoni on brown bread.
Not fatty pepperoni though, it has to be rendered and super crunchy. When I was young and poor I used to buy a few slice, render them slowly in the crock pot, then use them at flavorings. (also used the oil the way my GrandMother used bacon fat. Fry scarmbled eggs in it, use some in the crust of a savory ie, that sort of thing.)
If you really want to make your salad cart great, try putting out pepperoni crumbles as a topping option. Yuummmmmyyyy!
Oh, and Friday is a great day to do a “Make your own Caesar Salad” day with really good anchovies and fresh grated parmesan. I also really like the salad bar to have spinach as an option. Kale comes a near second. I’ve always felt that most lettuces are a waste of cropland.
Oh, and a really good Ranch dressing. Even just a decent (i.e. doesn’t taste like elmer’s glue) Ranch will call my name a couple of times per month. There used to be one that a local restaurant called “Country Buttermilk.” I had to get a weekly infusion, and 20 years after they closed I still miss it.
If you offer a potato soup, you might consider offering grated cheese (for a small extra charge). I love potato soup with grated cheddar, or even American.
And a combo plate of a cup of soup and sandwich or salad, or sandwich with a small salad, might be very popular. A lot of people don’t want a huge lunch, but they need SOME lunch, or they’ll get all stabby from hunger. Or they might want to save room for dessert. I don’t usually make or keep desserts at home, because I’ll eat them all. But I like to have a small dessert a couple of times a month. If you do desserts at all, you might consider baking cookies and selling some at the checkout, people will think that it would be nice to have a cookie during the afternoon break.
Hah, that’s funny. Today we found an old broken cheese grater at the shop and I told my husband, we need to get a new one of those. Fresh grated cheese would be good on top of soup and salads.
We will offer a half sandwich/soup combo. And I’m planing to offer pumpkin spice cookies every day. Along with an apple cake with caramel sauce. I know I need something sweet after a meal or I am left wanting and I know a lot of people feel the same.
Trucelt, pepperoni crumbles sound like a good addition. Sorry if this thread hurt your pocketbook.
Just for fun…put a SDMB reference in the menu…see if anyone picks up on it. 
My personal taste in sandwiches is rather bland. I don’t like messy. I used to put mustard on my some sandwiches, but when I order it out, they just slather WAY too much on. And if I say “light on the mustard”, they only put too much on. Then again, I’m really not the standard deli customer.
Good luck with the place. It sounds like you have all the pieces for success!
-D/a