Thursday, 20 May, 2010 7:36
by pat
SHREVEPORT-BOSSIER, LA--- Fertitta’s Delicatessen is celebrating 50 years of making the Muffy. To celebrate this achievement, Fertitta’s will have a birthday party for the Muffy, 11 a.m., June 12 at the restaurant, 1124 Fairfield Ave., in Shreveport, La. The event is open to the public. The band ‘Ain’t Misbehavin’ will perform and the small Muffy will be on sale. If you buy one small Muffy at regular price, you get the second one for just $0.50. Shreveport Mayor Cedric Glover and other honored guests are expected to speak at the event.
Fertitta’s Delicatessen and Catering Service has undergone many changes, but owner Agatha Fertitta McCall says there are some things that will never change. “We won’t change the recipe for the Muffy. That is our signature sandwich and what we are famous for. Besides, my daddy said he would come back from the grave to haunt me if I ever changed his sandwich. I want my daddy to rest in peace.”
The Muffy, like many other good things in life, was a happy accident. In 1927, the Fertitta’s opened the first family-owned food store in the city and in 1960 they started ordering food products from New Orleans. One of those products was muffaletta bread.
The story goes that one day Papa Sam Fertitta decided to make himself a sandwich using the muffaletta bread and products he had in the store. A businessman came in and Papa offered him some of the sandwich to try the imported bread. The businessman went to a company Christmas party that evening and told everyone about the sandwich he had eaten at Fertitta’s. On Monday morning, several people showed up for this highly-talked-about sandwich. As the days went on, more and more people came and the Fertittas were gently “forced” into the sandwich business.
Papa Sam stopped making Muffys in 1980 when Agatha took over. She has made the Muffy for 30 years now, longer than her father made it. “It’s a family place. It’s a part of the uniqueness of this city,” Agatha said. “The olive mix is the secret of the whole Muffy and only our family knows the recipe and makes it. We have a unique product. You can’t go anywhere to get anything like our sandwich.”
In 2008, they sold their one millionth Muffy. “Muffy” is now a registered trademark owned by Agatha. “Selling one million Muffys is a big deal, but what makes it truly unique is that every Muffy has been made by someone in our family in that same little corner store,” she says. “We are going to just keep doing what we’re doing. It’s obviously working! I would love to see us make 100 years on this corner.”
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