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Cool

Are they saying they’d have to go to a second lower quality supplier to restock, or that they’d have to go buy half-day old bread from the same bakery?

If it’s the latter, than how is the sub they sell at 3 PM with on a slow day going to be any fresher than the sub they refuse to sell at 3 PM on a busy day? If it’s the former, I’d still appreciate some sort of posted hours, even closing is listed as “2PM or later”.

I just moved to Chicago last week…anyone have recommendations for the best place for gyros here?

My brother-in-law has a craving for gyros since he can’t find them where he lives…and he helped me lug furniture up two flights of stairs, so I guess I at least owe him gyros and beer ;-)

Thanks in advance.

What an admirable attitude.

Great! I whish more shops and companies will go that line.

My first job was at a pizza chain in my hometown. Back then, delivered freshly-baked pizza was pretty much a novelty in the UK, so it was quite an interesting experience working there. When I worked the late shifts (pretty much every night) we didn’t have an official closing time as such; we’d stop answering the phones around midnight, but so long as we’d not finished clearing up, if a customer walked in we’d cook them a pizza. Sometimes this would be 12:15am. Sometimes it’d be 1am. The customer always left happily with a pizza, though.

Reminds me of Lou’s Living Donut Museum in San Jose. Opened early; closed when it was out of donuts. You showed up after noon at your peril – that place was quality.

Cute !

I hope they keep it up but I am sure that sometime later, they will settle in for a standard for “freshness” which helps them to sell maximum number of sandwiches before it is qualified to be “stale” and this standard will somehow be related to marginal costs of selling after 3 PM.

Another question to ask is : are they in the business of selling food which they can be proud of ? or selling quick, hygenic food to famished office goers?

If latter is the case then selling sandwiches with “homemade basil oil” is more important than selling sandwiches that are absolutely fresh. I bet you did’nt even realized then “freshness” when you ate it for the first time.

That’s awesome, but what happens when they get more customers, and start closing earlier and earlier? Ultimately, I guess if they are happy with the amount of subs they are selling right now by the 2-3:00 mark, it would be better for them to sell out quicker. Same sales, less time. Even though they don’t seem to mind the time.

That’s definitely a good approach, and it assures customers that they’ll always have fresh bread when they come in! I wish I could try it out.

they did probably start with wanting to close mid-afternoon, and order enough bread to make it through lunch based on the business they have. if business picks up, they could order more bread to get the “closing” time closer to where they desire.

I like the opinionated aspect of the practice, it’s a statement of their own will, a confidence in what they want to do.

That’s awesome, but what happens when they get more customers, and start closing earlier and earlier?

I guess they would just buy more bread in the morning. They probably don’t buy every single piece of bread the bakery cooks :P

Topper: Greektown. My wife is partial to the Parthenon on Halsted.

Why not arrange “just-in-time” delivery of fresh bread? Buy a set order every day at dawn (maybe 75% of the predicted need for the day), plus commit to a restock half an hour before the lunch rush. The early order makes it pretty sure they can get through lunch, while the lunch restock takes out consumption variability from the morning crowd, and provides a supply of even-fresher bread that covers lunch and into the afternoon. If they can arrange the JIT delivery to be from the last bake of the day, they could even note they serve “Final Bake” bread, the absolute freshest available …

I think our friend Wayne has missed the point. They do this to cut the hassle for themselves and to provide a great product for their customers. They are not looking for a JIT solution, it’s antithetical to their way of doing business.

Why not just buy more bread in the morning?

So… what’s a ‘sub’ for us non-americans?

@Ryan, I am sure you would have thought of the possibility of ordering more bread.

info on Submarine sandwich’s

what would it be in Spain?

That’s really neat.

But they’re totally creating consistency, here.

If they consistently buy the same quantity of bread in the morning, then statistically they know how many sandwiches they’ll sell in that whole day. There is no guessing game on their part at all. The only problem that could occur is selling too few sandwiches, but their statement about closing when the bread runs out indicates that they sell pretty well; well enough to know they’ll run out of bread.

So you see, their bread inventory is not variable at all. They determine their own inventory, and thusly determine their own sales ratio per day.

Why not arrange “just-in-time” delivery of fresh bread?

Because that’s not how bakeries work.

Bari or Jerry’s. Which is better?

“To cut the hassle for themselves” is eminently reasonable; but it’s customer-unfriendly to the extent it’s unpredictable. Generally at lunchtime I want a sandwich, not a surprise hunt-for-food – so, I hope they order enough bread so they seldom close due to lack of supply … and if they do, then they’re no different than any other sub shop (in terms of freshness) except the ones that bake on premises (e.g., Subway).

As for “that’s not how bakeries work” I’ll take your word for it – actually, I should have realized that from the comment “we could get more bread…”

If you care about something passionately, then that’s the thing you should measure. What they really need is a “freshness metric” and close up shop when the stock is stale … how do you tell how fresh bread is?

Interesting that you posted this Jason. I go to a small Japanese bakery in Tustin, CA called Cream Pan that has the same “freshness” ethics. They bake all of their goods in the kitchen there from the wee hours of the morning and I believe they stop around 8am. What they’ve made is what they sell that day. It’s become in such demand that Japanese customers “stock up” on several items in a single trip. I’ve been known to do the same with their curry pans (warm curry inside a baked pouch, mmmmm).

http://www.compasscompass.com/aditps.asp?lang=2&type=200&id=177312

Why all the complication, guys? Read the story – they usually close up shop at 2 or 3 PM. To my way of thinking, that means they’ve covered the lunch rush and are simply selling off the excess subs until they’ve sold all their product. Which means they are pretty close to perfectly predicting the number of subs needed for the optimum sales period (12:00-2:00) and negating the dwindling marginal returns in keeping the shop open through the quite afternoon period.

You win, they win. Why complicate it?

@Dan Boland: Thanks for the suggestion. We’re trying the Parthenon tonight for his birthday.

I used to get the marinated eggplant sub at Bari when I was working in the area. Messy and good!

That just made my day, love the business ethics. Well I have not tried Bari’s or Vinnie’s (as I am not in the same city or even the same continent as you guys).

I am sure the “Sydneysiders” who work in North Sydney will vouch for me that there was (could still be there) an awesome breakfast/lunch sandwich shop. Very near to 120 Walker St, Nth Sydney. They made the most amazing Tuna subs with home made loaf and imported Tuna.

I remember that the owner worked along the same lines, where he would only use the purest and best ingredients he could get. The look in his eye when making the sandwiches was so captivating. He treated each sandwich as if its a masterpiece. I admire such passion.

Great story.

I wonder about the customer issue, as I think there could be a number of options to go to from there. I wonder that if the sandwhiches are that good and people are aware of the quality they’re providing. If a customer overload becomes an issue, if they could raise the price to make demand closer to supply. I say this in mere curiousity, as there is the possibility that they could alienate many customers by doing this as well.

Kerno is right. Full marks to Kerno