Charlie Mann and Jordan Trigg, co-owners of Spread, have been in the hospitality industry since their early teens; between the two of them, they have worked almost every position in a restaurant.

Spread, their newest venture, opened in downtown Campbell in July and is headed by executive chef Chris Velasquez, former sous chef of Alexander’s Steakhouse. He created a menu full of artisan sandwiches, draft micro-brews, and 78 different bottled beers. SanJose.com talked with Mann and Trigg about how running a sandwich shop with Michelin Star connections came about.

How are you different than a typical deli?

Trigg: All of our cheese and meats and wines and everything, we keep local. All of our produce, all of our sandwich stuff is completely local. Northern California is a great great place, it has every attribute you could ever want, why not serve Northern California stuff?

Mann: We also luck out to live in this area. People are so much more open to experiment with stuff, try something they’ve never had before and actually give it a chance. You couldn’t open a sandwich shop like this—my wife’s from Wisconsin, we ain’t open in Wisconsin. People won’t try it, they’re doing their “Where’s my BLT plain, why does it have paté on it?” They’ll never give it a chance.  It’s nice ‘cause every single one of these beers, they all come with a good story. Same thing with all the artisan meats and cheeses and these guys cooking and everything, I love all the spreads and meats and sauces, and everything’s made from scratch. There’s a massive taste difference.

How did you end up having a Michelin-starred kitchen staff in a sandwich shop?

Trigg: I met him [Executive Chef Chris Velasquez] in the industry, good friends with him for about eight years. He’s an awesome, talented chef and I just caught him at the right time. It’s funny saying you want a chef for a sandwich shop, that’s definitely our goal. It wasn’t planned that way though. We’ve been talking about doing this sort of a style for about five years. We definitely lucked out with Chris, huge score on that, he just owned it. We’re definitely fortunate that we got Chris and his crew.

How does their experience translate to something more simple like a sandwich shop?

Mann: There’s a huge difference between having someone make and roast their turkey and make all the sauces as opposed to just squirting it out of a jar.

Trigg: You could go get a turkey sandwich at Subway for six bucks, but if I’m going to have a sandwich once a day I’d want a chef to make it. Our chefs spend 12 hours prepping everything for service, which is pretty crazy for a sandwich shop. The main thing when Charlie and I first conceived it was if we’re gonna have all these awesome craft beers, we can’t have shitty sandwiches.

Spread Deli & Bottles, 193 E Campbell Ave, Campbell. 408.340.5549. spreadcampbell.com

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