Business focus: New owner ‘perfect fit’ for deli
POST FALLS – As frequenters to this Post Falls favorite will proclaim, they’ve found a tasty piece of heaven on Earth, though not by the slice, but rather by the sandwich.
Tucked slightly out of sight on a corner along Seltice Way is Caruso’s Deli, a two-year-old sandwich shop featuring many modifications to the fast-food way of service, including using fresh vegetables and baking from scratch every day its signature, crowd-favorite breads – sourdough, wheat and rye. As a joint venture between Vince and Chelle Caruso and another couple in August 2005, they have since developed the deli into a successful concept that’s spawned similar stores with the same Caruso’s Sandwich Co. system, from the original store in Hayden to another in the Spokane Valley and a forthcoming Caruso’s Deli headquarters to open on Ironwood Drive in Coeur d’Alene.
Recently, though, the Caruso family sold the Seltice store in August to manager-turned-owner Desi Freeman, a move that’s set to benefit the people of Post Falls since she’s established with the store and community it serves, according to the former deli proprietor. “Desi is the perfect fit,” Chelle Caruso said. “She brings professionalism and experience in the restaurant business” to the deli.
For Freeman, a married mother of three, the chance to take over her own store has been a fulfillment of a lifelong calling, as her childhood was largely spent in and around the inner workings of restaurants in Western Montana where her father was a chef. “I grew up in the food industry,” she said. “I know the customers and I know the way things work.”
About her recent purchase, Freeman said “It’s always been a dream of mine; this opportunity just kind of fell in my lap.”
In addition to the full deli menu, Caruso’s also offers beer and wine, a breakfast menu, free high-speed wireless internet and inside and outside seating. Although the food takes the spotlight, a peripheral yet important part at each of the Caruso’s Sandwich companies is their family-friendly atmosphere. Serving the families of the community, healthy food is paramount, Caruso said. They do all they can to lend a hand, including the donation of excess daily bread to local food assistance services.
It all adds up to be “pretty contagious,” Freeman said. “There is nobody in town that can compete with our bread or do what we do.”
“I think it’s just a really positive environment,” she added.
With its take on small business and break from many of the fast-food norms, Caruso’s Deli has become a local lunch choice. That mix turned local realtor Sal Mercurio into a Caruso’s Deli fan the first time he stepped through the doors into the brightly festooned interior.
“I went in there and it was great,” Mercurio said. “It was the first deli of its type in town and it was well-needed, and it still is. You get that real nice personal feeling.”
Definitely, he went on, “they are on the top of my list for favorite places to go have lunch.”