Sara Gardinier just can’t help herself.

Sure, she could let other people make at least some of the tens of thousands of sandwiches that come off the line at The Chef’s In. Grab the bread, fill it with tasty meats and cheeses, wrap it up. How hard could it be?

But it’s not that easy. At least not for “The Sandwich Lady.”

“I have a control issue,” she tells The Ticker. “I’ve let go a little bit – the boys have made a few here and there for me, so I’m getting better.”

This control issue, though, comes from a good place. She just knows she makes one heck of a sandwich. So why mess with that?

“Everybody expects a certain product when they come in the door,” she says. “So I always want to be the last person to touch the sandwich. It’s just quality control. There are not very many things that are consistent in this world anymore, but you can always count on The Chef’s In being consistent.”

This Front Street sandwich joint is nothing short of an institution. Founded by Gardinier’s sister and brother-in-law Theresa and Charlie McDonald in 1986, it later passed to Gardinier and her husband Kurt, who worked alongside the McDonalds for a while before taking over completely.

Barring sickness or catastrophe, Sara and Kurt have made all the sandwiches together as a team for well over a decade. And if it’s not both of them, it’s at least one of them.

“We were both down for the count a couple Saturdays ago…and it was the first time in 17 years that one of us was not here,” Kurt says.

It all starts with Kurt’s arrival at around 4 a.m. to bake fresh bread, a key part of The Chef’s In's success. Don’t worry, it sounds worse than it is.

“I like coming in early,” Kurt says. “Nobody judges my singing; nobody judges if I'm late, because there's nobody else here. It’s great.”

Sara and Kurt are both near the grill by the time the lunch rush arrives. Kurt doesn’t chat much with the customers, largely because his back is to them as he mans the grill (“And I can’t multitask because I’m a guy,” he says) but he’s always impressed with Sara’s ability to connect with customers.

“She’s most certainly the face of this place. She recognizes probably 70% of the people that come in here,” he says. “Sometimes spouses will come in here and they'll say, ‘I don't know what my husband gets. I don't know what my wife gets.’ But (Sara knows) and just makes it."

There’s a row of seating near the grill that gives Sara the chance for extra conversation with people as they sit down to dig into their turkey cheddars.

“You wouldn't believe the stuff that people tell me,” she says. “It's a bar without the liquor.”

The locals and known faces are getting far less common in the summertime. Sara and Kurt report the summer rush is busier and busier each year, with the crowd often reaching standing room only.

"We've never had anybody get upset if they had to wait too long,” Kurt says. “They can see what we're doing, as fast and as hard as we’re working.”

Rising food costs have led Chef’s In to increase its costs, using a formula that keeps their profits the same. Other than dealing with that, they don't have a lot of complaints. 

“We don’t really have a ton of challenges,” Kurt says. “It’s a well-oiled machine, you just gotta come in and do the work.”

It’s getting harder to stand for long hours at the production station. Sara has a bum knee that needs a total replacement (“That will be my retirement present,” she says) and Kurt has plenty of aches and pains. But they’re buoyed by the fact that they have a succession plan in place – eventually, the business will pass to their son Cooper and his two friends, Cadin and Cyle.

“It's really cool, the fact that we know the next generation's coming in, so we're not going to be a Taco House or Mary's Kitchen Port,” Kurt says. “It’s my understanding that they wanted someone to come in and do it just like they did, but they could not find somebody to do that.”

The boys have all been working at the restaurant for quite some time. 

"What Charlie told me initially is: Don't change anything. People come here expecting X, you give them X,” Kurt says. “So, that's exactly what they're learning. It's pretty cool.”