A Bagel & A Cigarette Please….
There is a deli in Oxford, Ohio that every student who has ever attended Miami University will attest is the greatest post-party meal they will ever have (until they go home for the holidays…) That deli is Bagel and Deli and their menu is nothing short of a novel.
My wife spent four (expensive) years there and took me there recently to see for myself what she was raving about.
What’s most impressive about the deli is how they have COMPLETELY adapted their menu to the needs of the 16000 students half a block away.
For 34 years, they have been opening at 8am for a breakfast bagel, closing after midnight once the bar crowd has thinned out and delivering their goodies directly to the student dorms every day!
Where else could you possibly get an Afterburner??
Yes, you read correctly, a cigarette….
Every college town has a bar or a cafe like this. Full of character, full of hungry students and plenty of memories for the alumni.
Half of the attraction of Bagel and Deli is the craziness of it all, the crazily named bagels, cramped space and seeming lack of interior design! It works though and it gets talked about by thousands of students every year, who come back with their friends and spouses and show off this little gem.
What is your bar famous for? What are your customers coming back for? Have they a reason to bring their friends and family back? If not, maybe they need a reason. That’s YOUR job!
I'm Barry Chandler and I'm The Bar Blogger. I've been involved in the bar and hospitality industry for 16 years. From Bartender to Bar Manager and from Food & Beverage Controller to Small Business Owner, I have worked with more than 500 bars in the last five years to help them streamline their costs and run a more profitable business and more than 800 bars and clubs use my Management Toolkit which can be accessed at ManageYourBar.com.
