Photo by Hannah Wade for Free Times
By Hannah Wade for Free Times
Late last year, after nearly 30 years of operating the beloved No Name Deli off Columbia’s Elmwood Avenue, owner Glenn Kubilus and his wife, Laura, decided they were ready to retire and sell the restaurant they owned.
“It was time,” Kubilus said. “Working every day… it’s so labor intensive, it takes so much out of yourself, you know, and it was just time to move on. I felt that we had accomplished what we wanted.”
And when Chris Davis and Jon Sears — the owners of a handful of Five Points bars and Main Street rooftop bar and restaurant Hendrix — heard that the Columbia sandwich staple (with a notable cash-only policy) was for sale, they were immediately interested.
“We weren’t really, you know, actively seeking out another business, but when we heard that the business was for sale, it was appealing for a few different reasons,” said Davis, who alongside his business partner Sears, purchased the deli in December. “(No Name) reminds me of a place that my grandmother used to take me to … I think it’s the first business that I’ve looked at that made me kind of feel that way and it was also a very well run business.”
The pair co-own six bars and restaurants in Columbia, but No Name is their first lunchtime spot — most of their bars in Five Points don’t open until late afternoon or evening and their rooftop restaurant Hendrix also opens around dinner.
The restaurant’s steady reputation and already-reliable staff were two big draws for Davis and Sears.
“It just kind of caters to more of a work crowd. It’s not as focused on students, as well and obviously, it’s not in Five Points,” Sears said. “It’s only open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and not on the weekends, you know, so it’s really just kind of an opposite to some of our nighttime spots.”
No Name Deli got its start 30 years ago as Elmwood Delicatessen, but Davis said that because of the deli’s lack of a sign, folks in the area came to know it as “No Name Deli,” a nickname that has stuck around for the last three decades.
And the name isn’t the only thing that’s stuck around for the last three decades. Kubilus’s habit of only accepting cash at his lunchtime sandwich spot became something that No Name was known for.
“I just didn’t feel it was right to give up to 3% to a bank for doing absolutely nothing,” Kubilus said. “It was a matter of principle. I work hard, if the bank would start getting up at two o’clock with me in the morning, like I did every morning then I’d be happy to share that 3%.”
But Davis and Sears decided to change this — not long after they took over in December they began accepting credit and debit cards, which they said has helped draw in business from their already booming lunchtime clientele of office workers who stop in for lunch. On any given weekday, the staff at No Name Deli serve anywhere from 300 to 400 customers.
And while Davis and Sears have made slight changes like updating the restaurant’s website and social media as well as taking credit and debit, they want to maintain the bustling, distinctive atmosphere of No Name.
“The place has a genuine atmosphere that’s developed over a long period of time so we don’t want to come in there and like … I’m terrified of going in there and destroying what Glenn and Laura created… we’re trying to be extremely careful about not having a change that will affect that atmosphere,” Davis said.