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Serving sandwiches for 30 years
Marsha Lancaster worked her way up through a business to become the owner. That business, Marsha's Great Plains Deli, last week celebrated its 30th anniversary.
Lancaster's story began on Aug. 15, 1983, in the area known as Belltown, near the North National Avenue bridge. That's when Arnie and Connie Singmaster started Great Plains Deli. Lancaster was hired by them in August 1987 while attending Fort Scott Community College. In 1989 the restaurant was moved to its current location, 6 W. 18th Street.
Steve and Renee Irby then purchased the business, and retained the name.
"I bought it from them and took over on Oct. 24, 2001. I started working, in college, part time. Then right after college, ended up doing it full time," she said.
That's when the name was changed to Marsha's Great Plains Deli.
Why has the restaurant stood the test of time?
"I'm assuming because we serve a good product and people get a lot of food for the money," Lancaster said.
Currently they serve 200 to 300 orders, including the delivery orders, every day. Lunches can be delivered from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The restaurant is famous for its large sandwiches, and the best seller is the turkey, ham and Swiss cheese sandwich, she said.
Not wanting to mess with a good thing, the menu has not changed much through the years, Lancaster said.
"The menu has pretty much stayed the same over the 30 years, I'm just giving them names," she said.
She names sandwiches after family.
"Every member of my family has a sandwich named after them," Lancaster said. "For example, number one, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, was named after my sister-in-law, Kay."
Prior to getting a name, each sandwich is numbered on the menu. The names are given randomly.
"Sometimes, it's because they always get the same sandwich, sometimes it's a favorite number of that person," Lancaster said.
It is evident that family is important to Lancaster in other ways. There are currently 10 employees, three of whom are family.
"My niece works here, Shelley Rowe. My brother, Tom Lancaster, delivers lunches...he's the distribution manager," Lancaster said with a laugh. "My sister, Debbie Baxley, works some. She's been going through chemo."
Lancaster buys some of her food products locally.
"We've been getting tomatoes from the Amish...Roman and Fanny Stetler," Lancaster said. "We get about 150 pounds of tomatoes a week from them. Woods Bakery bakes our bread each day for us."
The best part about her business is the people.
"The best thing to me is getting to see a lot of people," Lancaster said. "We saw the American Pickers and Duck Dynasty (TV show celebrities) when they were in town. I get to meet a lot of interesting people."