By Elisabeth Strillacci

elisabeth.strillacci@salisburypost.com

SPENCER — Melissa Schneider is not someone who can sit still. With two businesses to her name already, she was searching for the next challenge and decided to tackle opening a deli in the Park Plaza shopping center on Salisbury Avenue.

Spencer Deli will be located in the old Silver Linings shop, about four doors down from the city hall and police department, and Schneider is looking forward to being “the first deli in Spencer in the town’s history,” she said.

The shop will offer made-to-order sandwiches and each week there will be a changing selection of hot foods. She said she’s excited for “game days because we’re going to offer a 12-foot long sub that we’ll serve on a board and deliver.”

She’ll also offer Hershey’s ice cream by the scoop or included in a banana split that she herself raves about, and she’ll be selling popcorn from local Old 97 Kettlecorn. She’ll also be offering the mini Cheerwine Bundt cakes that she won a Best Improvised Food award for in the 2023 Cheerwine Festival.

“We are the home of Cheerwine, so it’s only natural we’ll sell both Cheerwine itself and our mini Bundt cakes,” she laughed.

This is not, by any means, Schneider’s first foray into the food business.

Five years ago, she started the food truck Stick It 2 You, a food truck that offers delectable foods on skewers, and two years ago she opened 5 Star Commissary and More in Spencer, also on Salisbury Avenue, and was the first woman to open a commissary in Rowan County.

Anyone who operates a food truck in North Carolina must have a brick-and-mortar kitchen facility, but for many food trucks, the expense of having a single kitchen for operations can hit $2,000 a month, eating through any potential profits. Schneider wanted to offer small restaurant owners, whether it was food truck operators or bakers or caterers, a reasonably priced option to meet the state requirements and get their business going.

A nurse by training, Schneider has always loved food and cooking, saying that her family always ate at home instead of going out, so food became the language of love and comfort. When she made the career shift, she also had an eye on giving back to her community.

“It’s all about giving back to the community that has supported me,” she said. “If you give back, God blesses you, and I have truly been so blessed.”

Her father, Steve, and her fiancé, Richard, are two that she credits with helping her pull together the new restaurant.

“Over the last year, I must have threatened to throw in the towel five times,” she said. “But I knew at heart I need to see it through. No regrets. If I don’t try it, I’ll always wonder.” She also repeats the famous quote, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” when asked when she possibly has time to rest.

“Things are booming at the commissary, to the point that with this, I’ve had to cut back on the work with the food truck,” Schneider said. But once the deli gets up and running, she has staff that will carry the daily load.

“I wanted to provide an opportunity to some of my people at the commissary, who are going to be working at the deli, but I also want young people in Spencer to know there are jobs here for them,” she said. “High school kids can come get a job here and work, make some money and stay out of trouble.”

Schneider said she loves the Spencer community and the location, in the center of town, with all that is happening, is ideal.

“This is the next chapter in my story,” Schneider said. “I don’t have any more plans for the future — yet. But we’ll see.”

Spencer Deli at 408 Salisbury Avenue officially opens Thursday, Jan. 23, at 11 a.m. Daily hours will be Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., “but we’ll see how the response goes, and if we have the call to stay open later, we will.”