In most small towns it's common for everyone to know your name, but thanks to a local deli in Charlevoix... now, they know what you like on your sandwich. Andy's Deli has been feeding the friendly faces in this town for at least ten years with their famous made-to-order sandwiches that stack up to the ceiling.
The idea came from brothers, Gary and Keith Ramsey, who moved to Northern Michigan to open a grocery store with their wives, Marge and Mary.
"The grocery store was mostly tourists and we wanted to service more local people so we sold the grocery store and expanded to Garfield Street in Charlevoix," said co-owner Mary Ramsey.
They opened Andy's Deli and Party Store and began serving sandwiches. The concept was simple: provide picnic food for people coming into the party store and let them choose exactly what they want.
Maybe it was the smells of the daily, sometimes hourly, fresh baked bread that were drifting out the door that lured in the first customers, but it's the fresh taste that brought them back again and again.
It's known by locals as ‘The Andy's Sandwich,' and its popularity has grown so much that the business expanded into a second location named Downtown Andy's, which opened its doors on June 13, 2007.
"The menu is that you order exactly what you want, and the next guy in line gets exactly what he wants, and so on down the line. Every sandwich is individual to your taste," Ramsey said.
New customers are surprised to find choosing from the menu is more like taking a test, but trust me there are no wrong answers here. When you choose a sandwich, the combinations are endless.
First you get an order card and get to choose from five bread options ranging from homemade sourdough to french, white, wheat or rye.
After you circle your bread, it's time to pick up to three meats that are sliced right before your eyes. Choices include roast beef, pepperoni, salami, turkey breast, ham, corned beef, turkey pastrami and bologna.
You can't forget the cheese! You get to pick two from these options: swiss, colby, cheddar, hot pepper, american, colby jack, mozzarella, muenster and provolone.
Ramsey says some customers choose at least four or five sauces from the list of nine choices that include mayo, miracle whip, 1000 island, yellow mustard, honey mustard, stone mustard, creamy italian, horseradish, or oil and vinegar.
Finally you decide what toppers you want to really make your sandwich sing. Customers can choose up to five from a list of 10. From pickles to mushrooms to sauerkraut, everyone will go away happy.
So how many combinations does that make? It's the question that everyone is trying to answer.
"The math teacher here has it as one of her problems to figure out how many different sandwiches you can create from our menu because there are so many varieties," Ramsey said.
She doesn't know the answer and frankly after crunching the numbers, neither do I!
There are some favorites though. The sandwich makers say they usually serve up the popular combo of roast beef, turkey and ham on sourdough or wheat with swiss and cheddar, but the toppings always vary.
Mary says she sticks with her favorite: turkey and colby-jack drizzled with mayo and honey mustard, then piled high with lettuce, onions and mild peppers all on a fresh sourdough roll.
Some customers always get the same sandwich, and Andy's has just the system to make sure they get what they want.
"We have a clipboard where we keep an order pad of these people's sandwich orders. They'll call and say, ‘I want a Patrick or a Dr. Jake or something like that and we just look it up and have it waiting when they come in," Ramsey said.
Sometimes they'll even take the customers favorites and make those the feature sandwich. So you may see your name up on the board, allowing every customer to experience what other Andy's fans are biting into.
‘The Carly' would go something like this: fresh baked rye bread loaded up with turkey pastrami and corned beef, layered with swiss and provolone. It would be topped with lettuce, pickles, mild peppers, black olives and onions then a light spread of 1000 island, and drizzle of oil and vinegar. Yum!
It's not hard to see why Andy's was voted the number one sandwich shop in Northern Michigan. The combination of homemade bread, meats sliced to order, and such a wide variety of larger than life sandwiches are a sure hit.
"The best part about owning Andy's is all of the positive comments you hear on the streets of people who love the sandwich," Ramsey said. "You feel really proud of the product you have out there. It's a pride thing."
If you are looking for a lunch that packs a punch, you'll want to stop in to Andy's Deli or Downtown Andy's. While you are there, do me a favor and make sure to check out the board and see if "The Carly" is lucky enough to be the feature of the day!
