When you think of a New York deli, words like “cool” and “hip” aren’t usually the first ones that come to mind. They do, however, when you walk into NoHo’s The Press Shop.
Though you wouldn’t know it by his mature and down-to-earth nature, owner Oliver Ressler founded The Press Shop at the ambitious age of 24, a little over a year ago. When taking into account its fresh design, eclectic music and creative take on sandwiches, you can see how the shop was curated to perfection by an innovative mind. Recently, I got to sit and chat with Oliver about his journey.
Felicity: Why sandwiches?
Oliver: It’s funny, a lot of people ask me that in New York, because when you think of big cities, you think people are more health conscious. I wanted to disprove that sandwiches are unhealthy. I disagree with that. Also, sandwiches were my favorite food growing up as a kid. When I thought through this concept, all the emotions, all the memories, all the nostalgia came from having sandwiches with my father at the Jewish deli, going to my favorite Italian sandwich shop in LA after school with my buddies. That’s what gave me the impetus to want to come in and start the shop. For me, it was all about what foods I loved as a kid. Sandwiches were where this whole thing started.
Felicity: What was your vision for The Press Shop?
Oliver: I couldn’t find a place that put heart and soul into the sandwiches that they were making. I wanted to try to create something that put a little bit of story and nostalgia into how they did it. You come to New York and there are thousands of restaurants, and one of the things that struck me as amazing is there was nothing that bridged the gap between the sit-down, fancy sandwich panineria-type concept and Subway or Potbelly. I was looking to do something in that niche, in that in-between, because, I think people want to enjoy an experience, and they want to come to a place where they’re listening to great music, where they’re seeing cool people, where they’re seeing cool food, and enjoying that all under the guise of it being pretty damn good food.
Felicity: It’s like a work meal but still an enjoyable experience
Oliver: That’s exactly right. I think that’s where a lot of fine casual’s starting to move. It doesn’t matter if you’re eating out of a cardboard bowl or if you’re eating it off of fine china, the food has to taste really good and it has to give you an ambiance. That’s what I love about the differences of quick service restaurants, you can help tailor an experience that’s ten minutes long. Our job is to brighten someone’s day when they think it’s gonna be a pretty monotonous normal experience. Our job is to make them bob their heads in a line, and then get a sandwich that’s really good. The idea is to have them savor those ten minutes, and say, “We hope you come back for another ten minutes.”
Felicity: When did you start cooking?
Oliver: In college my senior year, one of my roommates bought a book of recipes. He wanted to learn how to be a better home cook. We started cooking two or three times a week, and more of our friends would come over to pregame at our apartment, because we had food. It was something that was bringing people together, and I thought it was pretty funny. For us, it was easy and fun and therapeutic, and for other people, they just really enjoyed free food. He became a better home cook and I became passionate about how food gets made, who buys it, and why you buy it.
Felicity: How did you come up with the name The Press Shop? It’s funny, when I first heard the name, I thought it had been around for years.
Oliver: What’s funny about it, going through the trademark process, I was like “100 percent, The Press Shop is taken. Has to be.” and by some grace of something, the trademark lawyer was like, “You’re not gonna believe this, but the name’s available.” I always loved the idea of pressed sandwiches, but to me, being in New York, we have a lot of allusions to newspapers here. The way we thought about the name was a little double entendre, because we’re in a city where the press dominates our daily lives. I’ve always had a passion for reading the news every morning. I wake up and, if I don’t have my coffee and read the news a little bit, I feel like I’m naked for the day. That was one thing my dad harps on me a lot, “You got to know what’s going on,” whether it’s in your neighborhood or globally, you got to know what’s going on in your world. Reading the news was a way for me to connect with my dad, who’s one of the most important people in my life.
At around this point, one of Oliver’s employees comes over to us with a Nutella sandwich. Dessert sandwiches is another facet that makes The Press Shop unique. Oliver and I split the sandwich, which is warm and absolutely delicious.
Oliver: The Press Shop sandwiches are supposed to make you feel something. They’re supposed to make you feel like a kid again when you’re having a bad day. We have a lot of ladies and gentlemen come in here, and they’re like, “I need a grilled cheese and tomato soup,” and they have it, and a lot of them come back in and say, “It just brightens up my day.” And that’s our job.
Felicity: What were some of the challenges that you faced when you were starting?
Oliver: You’ve got to pick the right people. You’ve got to find ways to inspire outside of how much money you offer them. You have to separate yourself by creating a good work environment, and just make sure that you care. There’s a lot to do, but I don’t do it alone, not even close. If I did, I wouldn’t have a business. The food can be great, but it’s only as good as the people and the care that they put into it. They’re doing an amazing job. One of the toughest things for me, being young, you want to tell everyone that you know everything. We’ve gotten bit in the ass by me thinking I know everything. The power of “I don’t know” is one of the most important things I’ve learned in the early parts of this business. Asking for help is not weakness, forgetting how to ask for help is, in my opinion.
Felicity: How do you feel celebrating the Shop’s one-year anniversary?
Oliver: It feels crazy that we’ve had a business for a year. Most businesses don’t make it to this period of time. Most businesses don’t have this ability to work hard to stay consistently good, while coming up with new innovations and new things, in their first year. We’ve gotten to see what works, what doesn’t work, and adapt quickly. Another thing about being open a year is, you see what didn’t stay open for a year. Our block was totally different a year ago. It’s kind of crazy, because you see how New York changes in that regard. You see the waves of people coming and going.
Felicity: How do you see the shop growing? What do you see for the future?
Oliver: So a year from now, I’d like to have more Press Shops. I’m not sure what format we’d like them in. Maybe they’d go in urban spaces, maybe they go in hospital food courts, maybe right smack on campus, but I’d like to have a couple more. Because you want to see what you can do on number two. I have no delusions; it’s super hard to get there. Certain days, you’re cold, you’re waking up early, you’re staying late, you’re doing monotonous tasks that you don’t want to do, like when we put the letters on that board. No one in the shop who worked on that loved doing that. That was not great fun. It was screaming across the shop at 8:30 PM, “Hey, can you throw me an S, please? No, not that S, I need an S half that size.” I remember when I went to get those signs, I called ten places, and one of the guys was like, “You got to come now to show me what you want.” They were an hour-and-a-half outside the city, deep Long Island. I had to call a big Uber, because they were big signs. We were just sitting in putt-putt traffic for JFK, and in that moment I was like, “Man, I really like what I do.” Stuff like that changes the way you look at tough businesses.
Felicity: The restaurateur has to do a little bit of everything.
Oliver: There are days when I’m up on the line, there are days where I’ll help chop stuff downstairs. Yesterday our dishwasher came in late, so you hop in and you wash dishes. That’s probably what I’m best at, because everyone else is so much faster than me at everything else in the shop. They always double take when I’m washing dishes, and I’m like, “Dude, I’m better at this than anything else I can do here. I don’t want to screw up your guys’ efficiency.”
Felicity: Do you have any advice for fellow foodies or cooks?
Oliver: Make up your own mind on food. Food’s supposed to be something that you love. Make food yours. Don’t just go to a place because it has a nine on Infatuation. Go because you want to go. If it happens to have a nine on Infatuation, awesome, that means that you have the same taste as Infatuation that day. Go out and find that place that makes you happy, and ask yourself “Why?” Go find stuff that you love, and keep having it, over and over.
You can learn more about The Press Shop here.
Felicity is the Deputy Editor for The Inquisitive Eater. A recent graduate of The New School Creative Writing MFA program, her work has been published in Brooklyn Magazine, The Inquisitive Eater, and Enchantress Magazine. Her writing can also be seen with Barbershop Books and Healthy Materials Lab. Felicity enjoys writing in all its forms. You can find her on Twitter @charmingfelic
Featured image courtesy of The Press Shop.
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