Specialty sandwich café Carton Deli has opened on Mukata Hindmarsh Square, offering up cheffy ‘grab and go’ breakfast and lunch options.

Carton Deli opened its doors on Monday, 12 September and has gained more traction than expected.

With a focus on speciality sandwiches, owner Zac Schneider says the clientele coming through Carton’s door so far have been led by their curiosity.

“There’s not a huge amount of those kind of shops around the place so that has definitely made people come in initially – just curiosity and wanting to check it out and seeing what it’s like,” Zac says.

“It’s working so far and been really busy and had heaps of people come in – it’s been great.”

Zac has extensive experience in the hospitality sector, as he told us in July, and has been working in the industry since he was 15.

After a casual chat with his housemate-turned-chef, the seeds of Carton Deli were planted to allow both Zac’s and his housemate’s professional lives to collide.

“[My housemate] mentioned that he loved making sandwiches and was really keen to kind of do something similar,” Zac says.

“The more I thought about it, I was like, ‘Oh, we could be onto something here’.”

The HCP: a ham and cheese sandwich topped with pineapple mustard brûlée

Carton Deli’s seven-item menu has a variety of options, from scrambled egg omelettes to your classic ham and cheese ‘sanga’, but slightly levelled up (see above).

There are also espresso and filter variations of coffee available, with beans supplied by Kindred.

Zac says the ‘Fried Chicken’ and ‘Sarsaparilla Pulled Pork’ have been the most popular orders so far.

Through Zac’s lengthy hospo experience, he understands the struggles of chefs trapped in a world saturated by smashed avo, so he knew he could secure quality cooks through his business’ easy sandwich prep and office-like hours.

“I know a lot of chefs aren’t super keen on doing brunch-style things,” Zac says. “There’s a lot of really great cafes that do that thing already.”

Zac has drawn on his extensive hospitality history to create the Carton Deli concept, implementing “all the things that I have really enjoyed about café’s I’ve worked at in the past”.

“We’ve been able to take the best parts and take the worst parts and you know, really fine-tune the product and fine-tune the service,” he says.

Like any café, key to Carton Deli’s ethos is nailing the simple stuff.

“I think we’re doing a lot of similar things to what a lot of other cafés are,” he says. “We’re still trying to offer really good service, we’re still trying to offer really good, consistent coffee.”

Not a lot has changed design-wise for the café, with the Dunfor fitout still visible. Though there have been some tiles added and a “nice slick of paint”.

“I just tried to work within my means,” Zac explains. “I didn’t have a huge budget but knew that I wanted it to be a really comfy spot.”

All things going to plan, Zac hopes to “get some money together” and eventually open a Carton sister store.

For the time being, you can find Carton Deli at 62 Pulteney Street. It opens Monday to Friday from 7am ‘til 3pm.

Connect with the business on Instagram.

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