It’s that time of year again—summer has come to an end, the school buses slow traffic down to a crawl, kids march grudgingly back to school, and busy parents spend more of their precious time at the deli counter. Many shoppers are very particular about the way they order their sliced meats and cheeses, and with good reason. They know exactly how much of each item they need to pack several days of lunches down to the quarter of a pound, which variety of items make the best sandwiches, exactly how they’d like each item sliced and packaged, and even whom they prefer to help them at the deli counter.
“The most common order that we see at this time of year is a half of a pound of Boar’s Head Ham sliced paper thin, and half of a pound each of Boar’s Head Bologna, Land O’Lakes Yellow American Cheese, and Homemade Turkey Bread sliced normally. Many customers like to have their items wrapped with a sheet of wax paper in between every 2-3 slices to help preserve freshness, and prefer to have a particular counter person wait on them,” says Bob Brannigan, Owner at B&A Pork Store in Brooklyn, NY.
I grew up working at a deli and we took a lot of what was learned there to develop the functionality of Mercato. Customers have the ability to select the items they’d like to purchase in quarter pound increments and specify exactly how they want their items cut and wrapped by entering a product note. It was very important for us to match the experience that you have when you walk into the store and ask your favorite counter person to help you with your order. Even though the customer isn’t in the store physically, they can maintain that personal interaction with their favorite shop owners.
Check out these 3 tips for making your deli order…
1. Get your sandwich meats sliced paper-thin.
Easy to chew and doesn’t pull all the other meat out of the sandwich when you bite in.
2. Order 1/3 lb of cheese for every lb of meat.
This is the most common ratio seen at the deli counter.
3. Ask to have every few slices separated by wax paper.
Makes it easy to remove slices and help preserve freshness.
4. Shop at a store with high sales volume.
To make sure the meats and cheeses are fresh as can be.
I personally prefer my meat sliced super thin and my cheese cut normally. For me, there is nothing like a sandwich with homemade turkey sliced paper thin and FRESH mozzarella sliced a little thicker on a loaf of Italian bread. How do you like your deli items sliced?
