American Sandwich Co. Closes

Note: The following letter was originally posted by Rich and Ellen Piotrowski on the Upper Saucon Patch Facebook page.

To Our Customers, Friends and Fans of American Sandwich Co.:

As you are aware, we have not been open since the beginning of June. It has been a difficult month for us personally as well as business-wise, as we have struggled over the future of the restaurant we love.

Over the past couple of weeks, we have considered several options regarding the future of ASC, and heard from many of you asking when we would be reopening. We have however made the difficult decision to permanently close.

Our decision to close American Sandwich Co. was not an easy one or made without serious consideration. 

The economic climate of our country has forced most of us to make major changes in our lives, including cutting back. Costs are rising, unemployment is growing and many of us can no longer count on job security. As you are aware simply by looking around, restaurants have been hit hardest. With the high costs of rents and various regulations, it is getting close to impossible to survive as a "mom and pop" brick and mortar type of business.

From the very beginning of ASC (which resulted when we ended our relationship with Quiznos,) we envisioned a fast casual restaurant where we would want to eat. We were proud to be the only restaurant in the area that offered a menu that was 100% high fructose corn syrup free and a premium bread made with only 4 ingredients. It cost us significantly more to bring you this high quality food, and we kept our prices as low as possible. We felt that you, our guests, deserved good food without having to pay a lot more. Because of this, we had a very small profit margin compared to Subway, local diners and other "hoagie" shops that care more about their profit than the quality of the food they serve.

Many restaurants have lowered their quality, reduced their portion sizes and increased their prices to compensate for higher food costs. We didn't because that would go against the very core of American Sandwich Co.'s standards. We cut back where we could, including staffing and our open hours. 

When a family crisis occurred, because of a lack of staff we had to temporarily close or leave unexpectedly on a number of occasions. We understand this was an inconvenience to you but we could never choose business over family. It was important that Ellen spent precious time with her mother, who passed away on June 23.

We loved what we did, and will miss each and every one of you. We loved getting to know you.

It is our hope that when the economy turns around, we will return to bring you awesome food once again. In the interim, we will remain outspoken about food quality and will continue to grow awareness of how much of the food that is being served, especially by the large chains, is not healthy and should be avoided.

We are keeping our website live so that you can stay in touch with us and us with you. Please feel free to contact us via the website's blog, email, or via Facebook.

Thank you for your years of support. We wish you all good things for your future.

Fondly, 

Rich and Ellen