National Sandwich Day is yet another marketing opportunity for small business to take advantage of. Sit down for a few moments and decide if this is an opportunity you’d like to pursue with only the resources your business currently has available or is it an opportunity to collaborate with other small businesses in a Coop Marketing Campaign. Either path can open amazing ways to engage with your customers.

Wikipedia’s page defines sandwich as: “A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein two or more pieces of bread serve as a container or wrapper for another food type”

Of course you can create a sandwich anyway you like, even Oscar Mayer is now trying to say a hot dog is a sandwich, and has found itself embroiled in an online Twitter battle of what constitutes the definition of sandwich. Update: At 9:00 A.M. Nov 2nd 2018 the company tweeted their final decision.. No matter what you say, they are going to promote the hot dog as a sandwich. An interesting side note in this little debate is that National Hot Dog and Sausage Council has posted an update to their 2015 declaration on their website that the hot dog is not a sandwich. And all this comes down the day before National Sandwich Day.

You called and we listened. You almost changed our mind… but this is where we still stand. Hot dogs ARE sandwiches. pic.twitter.com/gDBh8azKd9

— Oscar Mayer (@oscarmayer) November 2, 2018

Almost everyone loves eating and creating sandwiches and national sandwich day opens a myriad of avenues for marketing campaigns and customer engagement.

Gluten Free National Sandwich Day

And in the spirit of including all customers in your business open house here are a couple of links to Gluten Free Alternatives to wheat based sandwiches, There are always way to make marketing inclusive, it’s all about the customer, Right?

Over at Nutrition by Mia she wrote a blog post titled Gluten Free Finger Sandwiches, check it out for some ideas, and a enjoyable read.
And the San Francisco Gate published a guide to Types of Gluten Free Bread which is a good primer to read before ordering supplies for your customers extravaganza.

Creating A National Sandwich Day

Your business may only have one small store or it may ascended to be a regional or national chain, but the size of your operation doesn’t matter when creating an open house. It’s the size of your willingness to explore new ways to connect with your customers that matters. The goal is to entice new and old customers into your establishment(s) as a way of interacting with them, as a way of networking and building loyalty in a casual setting.

I recommend No hard selling during the open house. This is an event to celebrate your customers and to thank them for their patronage. Get to know the people that show up, are they local or only passing through? What brought them to your store(s) for the first time? If they are regulars ask them for their email address so you can send them a survey, if they have time of course. Ask questions about their family’s and their occupation, etc.

Depending on how much room you have in your store(s) setup a lavish sandwich bar that offers lots of choices for your customers. Have loads of unusual items for them to try along with more traditional fare.

If you’re worried about having leftovers of the unusual items I suggest limiting the amounts and when they run out it’s time to introduce an entirely different item. By limiting the items you’ll create interest. Of course if customers are not too daring than limit the unusual items even more. But don’t eliminate them altogether, there are always a few in a crowd that appreciate new things.

As readers of this blog already know I’m a huge fan and promoter of coop marketing that brings together 3 or 4 small business to help share the energy and creativity needed for a successful marketing campaign. For National Sandwich Day I’m suggesting a contest where your customers create there best sandwich and bring it to your business on sandwich day for a taste test and the awarding of prizes to the category winners.