{"id":16014,"date":"2016-04-21T07:33:11","date_gmt":"2016-04-21T12:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/burgersdogspizza.com\/?p=16014"},"modified":"2016-04-21T07:33:11","modified_gmt":"2016-04-21T12:33:11","slug":"gas-station-sandwich-primer-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/?p=16014","title":{"rendered":"Gas Station Sandwich Primer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Thorntons<\/a>
Stewart In-Fra-Red Oven<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I’ve written a lot about ‘gas station sandwiches,\u201d a term I use to describe the cello wrapped sandwiches, fresh or heat and eat, one finds at c-stores, gas stations, and in vending machines.<\/p>\n

The earliest ones I remember were from a Virginia company called \u201cStewart Sandwiches\u201d who sold mostly to bars, concession stands, and schools and companies.<\/p>\n

Their \u201cheat and eat\u201d versions used a patented device the company provided called an \u201cIn-Fra-Red\u201d oven (pictured), which was kind of a predecessor of microwaves being widely used. The sandwiches were placed in the ovens, still in their cello, and they took 3-5 minutes to heat.<\/p>\n

In addition to \u201csubs\u201d and burgers, their version of \u201cchuck wagon\u201d (breaded, fried hamburger) was very popular, as was their \u201cpizza burger.\u201d My college roommate and I used to buy quantities of these puppies and sell them in the dorm, til the school shut us down.<\/p>\n

Stewart operated via a franchise model, with about a couple dozen distributors around the country that established their own customers\/routes. At some point (which I can’t really seem to sort out through research), Stewart faded and some of their franchisees took up the mantel \u2013 the largest being the (now known as) \u201cDeli Express\u201d label, a suburban Minneapolis company, which cranks out a million sandwiches a week at their Minnesota factory.<\/p>\n

Other than \u201cDeli Express<\/a>,\u201d \u201cLandshire<\/a>,\u201d and Ohio’s \u201cAdvancePierre<\/a>\u201d (who recently acquired Landshire), the segment seems to be fairly regional, with a lot of smaller manufacturers like \u201cMom’s<\/a>\u201d in OK and Texas.<\/p>\n

7-Eleven contracts some of their sandwiches out to a division of Lufthansa airlines<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Although many of these sandwiches are assembled by hand in the smaller companies, automation has created mass production efficiency as seen in this video.<\/p>\n