Operations
Small but mighty: LA sandwich shop surviving pandemic
Breadlam operates out of a 300-square-foot space, which has helped it stay afloat during the pandemic.
February 22, 2021 by Cherryh Cansler — Editor, FastCasual.com
When Tommy Ferraro left behind his operations role at Cheesetique, a wine bar and restaurant in Northern Virginia, to launch a sandwich concept in 2019 in Los Angeles, he didn't expect it to be easy. He also didn't expect to be in the middle of a global pandemic one year into his business. Luckily, he and his shop — Breadlam — had a few things going for them.
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| Tommy Ferraro opened Breadlam in 2019. |
"My model was primarily set up for to go already, and I am so small that I can operate very lean if needed," Ferraro said about the concept, which operates out of a 300-sqaure-foot space. "The first few months were very difficult, and it took some time to figure out how to navigate the new world, but we became a place where people living in the neighborhood knew they could come to. It shifted from this office lunch crowd to a community spot, and hopefully when everything returns, we can be both."
The shop specializes in gourmet sandwiches named after streets that have been important to Ferraro over the years. Menu options include The 5th Ave. — which has prosciutto di Parma, aged Gouda, roasted tomatoes, basil, olive oil and greens — as well as the Raymond, which features roasted turkey, comte, mustard, tomato mayo, peppadews, roasted tomatos and greens.
Being small has big advantages for the shop.
"For the most part I love it, it's primarily a front facing operation for us and the guest can see exactly what's happening and we can interact while working," Ferraro told FastCasual. "The back-of-house and front-of-house is all the same thing. There are times where we are bursting at the seams on delivery days with lack of space, but it's a good problem to have. And being so small during this pandemic also allowed me to be more creative with my staffing, etc., which has removed some of the challenges that a larger space would have."
When allowed, Breadlam has a few tables outside, but the pandemic has forced it to operate as a to-go and delivery concept for the past year.
"We do delivery through the third-party services, which has been a good source for sales overall but very inconsistent," Ferraro said.
Another challenge fueled by the pandemic was having to eliminate personal touches to the customer experience.
"Since the space is so small, we can only have one party in at a time to keep with social distancing precautions, so our interactions basically were just in and out, order and leave," Ferraro said. "We really prided ourselves on our customer service and creating a friendly environment, so the way you have to be extremely aware of the protocols to operate removes a lot of those service points we spent so long building up."
Although he said sales were down, and there were no patterns to know when the store will be busy or slow, Ferraro remains optimistic.
"I feel thankful my model was never predicated on a dine in atmosphere," said Ferraro, who painted the restaurant blue.
"I've always loved blue. And I've always been kind of obsessed with Weezer's debut album, the 'Blue Album,'" he said. "So really that's about as deep as this goes. It's a nice color to be surrounded by all day."
While having a small location is great right now, Ferraro is looking to grow.
"We have big plans for the future and will start seriously evaluating paths post-pandemic," he said.
About Cherryh Cansler
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