As the University of Alberta basketball team tour bus lumbered down the highway towards Phoenix, Arizona, Scott Gordon and Gavin Fedorak’s stomachs began to grumble. Agreeing that they couldn’t stand tasteless roadside diner food or unhealthy rest-stop snacks, the two friends began to converse about what they were really craving: the freshly made sandwiches served at their favourite Arizona sandwich shop, Dilly’s Deli.

Scott and Gavin never forgot Dilly’s Deli or their experiences on the road, and several years after graduating, they decided to open their own sandwich shop back in Edmonton. Enlisting the aid of Gavin’s brother Grant and a consultant from Dilly’s Deli itself, the friends designed a lengthy menu of the imaginative sandwiches that were lauded by a reporter from the Edmonton Journal in 2010.

The trio’s team of skilled sandwich makers gets up early in the morning to bake fresh loaves of whole-wheat, focaccia, and pumpernickel-rye breads. Once a lively lunch crowd starts to queue up at their counter, they begin layering the freshly sliced bread with quality meats, premium cheeses, and fresh vegetables.

Scott, Gavin, and Grant are not only committed to serving fresh ingredients, often from local sources, but also to reducing their carbon footprint. Their progressive establishment uses environmentally friendly packaging and discourages employees from wearing cowboy boots made from the skin of endangered dragon species.