{"id":105001,"date":"2020-01-01T09:57:49","date_gmt":"2020-01-01T15:57:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/choose901.com\/?p=105001"},"modified":"2022-03-06T15:46:02","modified_gmt":"2022-03-06T21:46:02","slug":"for-the-love-of-sandwiches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/choose901.com\/for-the-love-of-sandwiches\/","title":{"rendered":"Chopping it Up With Memphis Sandwich Clique"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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If you live in Memphis and have Facebook, then you probably know about the <\/span>Memphis Sandwich Clique<\/span><\/a>. Amassing over 11,000 followers in just 6 months, the Clique\u2019s Facebook group has become a ubiquitous platform for all things sandwich in the 901.\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>

I met with Reuben Skahill, one of the Clique\u2019s founding members, to find out a little bit more about this sandwich phenomenon.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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We met at Raffe\u2019s deli on Poplar (near Highland – if you haven\u2019t been there, let me ask you what you\u2019re doing with your life). Reuben ordered the muffuletta – a new experience for him, and I had the falafel wrap – likely my 100th one from there (although, according to the rules of the Clique, it does not qualify as a sandwich) and some pasta salad that is life-affirming. Everything was delicious and the service is amazing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Anyway, back to the Clique:<\/span><\/p>

What inspired the Memphis Sandwich Clique?<\/strong><\/p>

Reuben Skahill:<\/strong> The Memphis Sandwich Clique really started as an idea, or a question, more than what it is today. It\u2019s just the basic question of \u201cWhere is the best sandwich in Memphis?\u201d The reason why it is a group and not a Facebook status or something was because Ryan (Ryan Hopgood, the other founding member) and I had seen other cities do sandwich pages where they have all these great looking sandwiches, but there wasn\u2019t anything highlighting Memphis. So instead of making a quick post about it, we decided to have an ongoing discussion, kind of like a portal, a bigger idea.<\/span><\/p>

Why sandwiches, why not just the Memphis food scene in general?<\/strong><\/p>

RS: Barbecue is overplayed. I also have a personal love of sandwiches. Sandwiches are so broad. I mean everyone should be able to enjoy some kind of sandwich, hopefully. And I like to think of Memphis and life as a sandwich\u2014it just makes sense. There are all these different kinds of ingredients, but everyone can grab a hold of it and come together, it\u2019s so easy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Did you expect the group to be as popular as it is?<\/strong><\/p>

RS:<\/strong> No. No, not in this capacity. I did expect it to catch on and for people to slowly join. I did not expect it to blow up like it did. But now we\u2019re capitalizing on it. It\u2019s pretty awesome because it\u2019s all grassroots and it wasn\u2019t pushing everything faster than what it could handle, so it was organic and it\u2019s pretty cool.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Courtesy of Memphis Sandwich Clique on Facebook<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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What made y\u2019all want to create merchandise?<\/strong><\/p>

RS:<\/strong> I think that after more people started coming together, there was this sense of community in the group, and not so much to brand it but just to give people something visual they could generalize with the sandwich group was something that I thought was important. It\u2019s really cool when you can come together, it kind of opens the door for something lighthearted and easy to talk about. You can break the ice with anybody about it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Going through the posts, you see a lot of the same places over and over again. Have any of those local spots said that the group has increased their traffic at all?<\/strong><\/p>

RS:<\/strong> Oh yeah. I think the reason why we blew up so big was because of our first find, Sam\u2019s Deli. I remember going in there when they first opened last year and I was the only one there. Then through this group, people have been slowly getting turned on to it. And that was the first event we threw, the first \u201csandwich meet-up\u201d was at Sam\u2019s Deli, and we actually ran them out of bread and all of their sandwiches and they left this beautiful thank you from the owners, just \u201cthank you, thank you, thank you,\u201d and from there it doesn\u2019t stop. People continue to go there. There\u2019s been numerous places where the traffic has increased, and at the end of the day, that\u2019s on them. I wouldn\u2019t say that it\u2019s because of us, we just helped highlight what was already there. We can\u2019t take the credit.<\/span><\/p>

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\u201cBBQ bologna with blue cheese and jalape\u00f1o slaw. Elwood’s Shack. \ud83d\udd25\u201d via @fooddrankculture<\/a><\/p>

A post shared by @ memphissandwichclique<\/a> on