GOOD EATS EVERY ‘ WICH WAY
because it was right across the street from their old business , which closed during the pandemic — KY Mountain Deli .
“ We figured we had so many really good friends from over there that we were at the perfect place to open up for a few weeks and get the speed back ,” Mallo said .
Opening a food truck was the plan all along , Melbourne said . Before the pair came to Kentucky , they ran a food truck and took it to festivals and carnivals . “ We loved it ,” Melbourne said with a smile . That plan was put on hold , when they made friends with a realtor .
The realtor knew the person who owned the building KY Mountain Deli would eventually occupy and told the couple he believed a sandwich shop would be great there . So , when the pair began renting the home just across the street , they decided it was too perfect to pass up .
KY Mountain Deli had been open for about a year , when the coronavirus pandemic began to affect their business .
“ We were killing it , but then COVID-19 hit ,” Mallo said . The pair said business began to get very slow , and the overhead was not covering their expenses . It was the push they needed to finally decide to go back to their original plan of a food truck . About a month after they had purchased the trailer for the food truck , KY Mountain Deli closed down .
With the closure of their old business , the pair had a few things to figure out .
How they were going to build the truck , and what they were going to call it .
“ The name actually came out of an old joke ,” Mallo said with a laugh .
He said back when they were working inside KY Mountain Deli , people would call him the sammich man . One day , the pair were joking around with each other and singing , “ the sammich man , the sammich man ,” over and over again . They then decided “ Sammich Man ” didn ’ t sound like a bad name . They then added Express to the end because they were a food truck .
“ My first thought was the pony express ,” Mallo said . “ And hers ( Melbourne ) was like a train . Both work .”
Mallo explained the construction of the food truck was based on what Melbourne wanted .
“ What you gotta do is you gotta have a plan , like a business plan ,” He explained . So , they drew up a plot map and figured out everything she wanted . Once they came up with the plan , Mallo figured out where he ’ d need power and water . From that point , he roughed everything out and then put in insulation , wall coverings , and moved appliances in . Then , with the small
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