Good Neighbor Podcast: Pittsburgh
Bringing together local businesses and neighbors of Pittsburgh. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Leila Carter helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Is your business serving the residents of Pittsburgh? Then, we need to talk! Visit gnpPittsburgh.com to schedule your free interview.
Good Neighbor Podcast: Pittsburgh
E22: Bread & Belonging: How Two Neighbors Fed a Food Desert
What makes Erica Sumpter with Ida’s Sandwich Shop a good neighbor?
Hungry for more than just another sandwich? Step into Ida's Sandwich Shop, where every bite tells a story of neighborhood transformation and culinary passion.
When Erica Sumpter and her business partner realized their Observatory Hill community lacked walkable food options, they didn't just complain—they created a solution. Despite neither having restaurant experience and facing the catastrophic timing of starting construction just as COVID hit, they persevered. Their dedication to quality and community has transformed what could have been just another café into a neighborhood hub where customers feel like family.
"We are not a fast food restaurant," Erica proudly states, challenging the misconception that sandwiches must be quick and thoughtless. At Ida's, each creation is carefully crafted with fresh ingredients on quality bread. Their approach balances hearty indulgence with healthy options, all made with the same attention to detail. This commitment to excellence extends beyond their menu to the atmosphere itself, consistently described by visitors as having "good energy" and a "great vibe."
What truly sets Ida's apart is their willingness to customize and create. "If we have the ingredients, we are going to do it for you," promises Erica, embodying their customer-first philosophy. This flexibility, combined with their resilience through pandemic challenges, has allowed them to thrive when many established restaurants faltered. Their journey from homemade "gourmet sandwiches" made from refrigerator finds to a beloved community cornerstone demonstrates how passion and neighborhood connection create sustainable success.
Ready to experience Pittsburgh's neighborhood sandwich revolution? Visit Ida's at 3921 Perrysville Avenue in Observatory Hill or order online at idassandwichshop.com. Follow their culinary adventures on Instagram @idas_PGH or call 412-208-9944 to discover why locals and travelers alike keep coming back for more than just great food.
To learn more about Ida’s Sandwich Shop go to:
Ida’s Sandwich Shop
(412)208-9944
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Lila Carter.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of a Pittsburgh cafe? One might be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Erica Sumter, with Ida's Sandwich Shop. Erica, how's it going? It's going great.
Speaker 3:How are you?
Speaker 2:I'm well, I'm well. Thank you so much. We're excited to learn all about you and your business, so tell us about your company.
Speaker 3:Sure so Ida's Sandwich Shop. We are a family-run, friendly cafe in the heart of our community, which is Observatory Hill, and we are known for our handcrafted sandwiches. We make these with fresh products daily. We offer also just a warm, welcoming atmosphere with a great vibe. Most people say when they walk in, it's good energy in there, great vibe, beautiful place. Our guests really feel like they have family and friends they're talking to and, of course, each sandwich that we make is made with love and customized for the person that's ordering it.
Speaker 2:So how'd you get into this business?
Speaker 3:Well, really it kind of stumbled upon us. It's myself and a partner that owns it and our journey really began with a simple idea bringing food to our neighborhood. We looked around and there was nothing for us to walk to to be able to eat. So it's really right down the street from our house. We were regularly visiting another popular simple sandwich shop in another Pittsburgh neighborhood and one day it just hit us. We were like we can really do this within our own neighborhood. So we got the inspiration from that point forward and, ironically, when we first met, we used to make these things. We used to experiment with different ingredients. It was about 16 years ago. We called them gourmet sandwiches at that time and it was really whatever was in our refrigerator. We kind of put together. If it made sense, threw it on some bread, and that really allows us to be creative now with some of the options we have. So that's where we got into this business. Neither of us were in the restaurant industry before.
Speaker 2:What are some myths or misconceptions in the restaurant industry?
Speaker 3:Well for the restaurant industry and specifically for sandwiches. Some of the misconceptions is that a sandwich is really quick, really easy, something simple that you can get into and it doesn't take really a lot of thought. But at Ida's we believe a sandwich can be so much more and I know it sounds really, you know, generic, but you can really be creative. But you can really be creative. You can create combinations, especially when you're using quality products, freshly baked bread and then making it very hearty, very healthy, sometimes very indulging.
Speaker 3:Not everything's healthy that we sell, but it really is truly satisfying to be able to put something together that somebody is trying and that they love, something together that somebody is trying and that they love. And the one thing specifically for us we are not a fast food restaurant. People do come in and they want something quick and easy, but we really take our time to make things fresh and close to perfect. So I think that's one of the things that, both in the restaurant industry and our own business, people think it's quick, easy, fast business and it really isn't. We take our time.
Speaker 2:Excellent, you get it just right, I'm sure, exactly who are your target customers and how do you attract them.
Speaker 3:So our target customers are mainly the people in our neighborhood. We get a lot of traffic from around the area the walking distance area as well as people from all over Pittsburgh. So we do a lot of marketing online and people see us. We are known from some of the foods that go out that are a little bit more customized, a lot of word of mouth, and we get people from out of town believe it or not that come in there a lot, especially on the weekends because we're right off the highway as well. So we target everyone, but primarily is our neighbors, our fellow neighbors around us and those other businesses within the community. So that's where we really focus our attention on.
Speaker 2:It might sound a little unconventional, but have you ever thought about doing your own podcast?
Speaker 3:Yes, I have, actually I have, but right now we're trying to get some time to be able to do something like that. That would be great, but as far as right now we focus on this and then hopefully in the future we'll be able to do something like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so outside of work, what do you do for fun?
Speaker 3:Crazy as it may sound, we think about the shop when we are outside of work. So we think about ways that we can enhance our business. We visit other places outside of Pittsburgh, we talk to other business owners just to make sure that we have the winning combination for our customers and for us to really be successful throughout the years. And then every once in a while we like to just lay back, watch a movie or two, enjoy just doing nothing at home. But for the most part we are in the building stage where we're thinking about our business constantly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you have the entrepreneur's mindset, absolutely, so let's switch gears here. Can you describe a hardship or a life challenge you overcame and how it made you stronger? What comes to mind?
Speaker 3:So I would say, this business that we have now, we did go through some challenges in the beginning. When we started this journey, it was, of course, during COVID unfortunately right before COVID. So we were going to start our construction May of that year and in Allegheny County, where we are a lot of the construction when most of it really was stopped at that point. So we really had to make sure that this was something that we wanted to move forward with. We stayed dedicated to it. We stayed dedicated to our community. We wanted to really make this something, a great place. So it really taught us resilience, adaptability and the value of really staying true to our mission and what we wanted to accomplish. Because getting through that time, you know a lot of restaurants closed, a lot of them were not doing well, but we actually thrived when we opened and I do owe it to that dedication that we have to our neighborhood and what we were really trying to accomplish.
Speaker 2:That's beautiful. So, Erica, please tell our listeners one thing that they could remember about Ida's Sandwich Shop.
Speaker 3:Well, we really want to make our customers happy. That means whichever sandwich they want, if they want any customizations, if they want to try something new, we are open to do that. So we have people that come in and say you know what I want this type of sandwich. You don't have it on the menu. If we have the ingredients, we are going to do it for you. So we just want people to know that we really care about every single sandwich we make, every omelet we make, every salad we make and we are really trying to be that place where people gather in the neighborhood. You make us a better business. We're trying to be part of your daily routine and really be a good neighbor.
Speaker 2:Very good. How can our customers learn more about Ida's Sandwich Shop?
Speaker 3:Well, you can find us in the Observatory Hill Business District at 3921 Perrysville Avenue. It's right next to a parking lot, so you can't miss us. You can also visit our website for ordering options. As well as our regular menu, our catering menu is out there on our website at wwwidassandwichshopcom, and then we have an Instagram. You can follow us there on idas underscore PGH, or on Facebook. We're at Idas Sandwich Shop and our phone number if you'd like to call 412-208-9944. Just stop in and see us. A quick chat or something good to eat.
Speaker 2:We are there about six days a week Excellent. Well, I'm off to go get a sandwich. I don't know about you, but, erica, I really appreciate your time today and having you as a guest on our show. We wish you the best moving forward.
Speaker 3:All right, thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPPittsburghcom. That's GNPPittsburghcom, or call 412-561-9956.