Joann Hingsbergen, owner of Subway of Sunbury, is accustomed to catering orders. Sunbury Subway caters parties and other gatherings, sometimes providing hundreds of sandwich and salad meals.
But on Saturday, Feb. 18, Sunbury Subway filled an order to beat all orders – 3,400 boxed sandwich and salad meals for the 10th Annual Columbus Catholic Women’s Conference at the new Cardinal Center at the Ohio State Fairgrounds.
This is the sixth year that Subway of Sunbury has prepared lunch for the Columbus Catholic Women’s Conference. In the earlier years Hingsbergen and her crew would prep 2,000 sandwiches and salads, so this year’s order is an order that will be hard to beat. Of course, never say never because the Columbus Catholic Women’s Conference seems to grow larger each year.
Hingsbergen said a catered order for thousands of hungry conference attendees doesn’t happen overnight — though the orders were assembled the night before the conference.
There were meetings to plan usage, calculate formulas, and figure out the number cases of each component in the subs and salads, Hingsbergen said, all leading to extra food deliveries. Then came the hard part, assembling and delivering the box lunches to be served at the conference.
That’s where more help comes in, as Subway of Sunbury employees and former employees gathered for all-night sessions baking bread and making and boxing sandwiches and salads.
“There was a lot of slicing vegetables as we assembled the sandwiches; and all of our bread is made within 24 hours of usage,” Hingsbergen said. “And we don’t have storage space, so we rented a refrigerated box truck that was packed full with pallets.”
Hingsbergen said crews worked until 5 a.m. Saturday morning, the truck left Sunbury at 9 a.m. to get to the Cardinal Center in time to unload for lunch.
“It was very much a team effort,” Hingsbergen said. “My employees and former employees still come back and work on the conference. I’ve always had good luck with staff members. I make sure they get a bonus for this, and a lot of them, because of working during the week, earn overtime.
“But this is more than working for money,” Hingsbergen added. “This is like a party where former employees get to come back and reunite with their friends they haven’t seen in a while. I love my staff; they always do an awesome job. They’re a hard-working, cooperative bunch of kids I can always trust. They work their butts off. I couldn’t do this without them and they get a kick out of doing it.”
Hingsbergen said Subway of Sunbury has a catering focus that will help customers plan party needs, and delivery at a certain level can be arranged.
For information about Subway of Sunbury Catering go to sunburysubway.com where you can order online, or call 740-965-2244. On Facebook search for Subway of Sunbury.
