Sandwich Family Cashes in on Namesake
L O N D O N, Feb. 21 -- Some 240 years ago, the fourth Earl of Sandwich, caught between meals and a busy lifestyle, invented the sandwich.
This week, seven generations after this creation, the 11th Earl of Sandwich is putting the family invention on the road.
The earl and his son, Orlando Montagu, are preparing to take a bite out of Britain's booming lunch market with a gourmet sandwich delivery service called — you guessed it — Earl of Sandwich.
Up Against McDonald's
The company, launched this week, at first intends to deliver high-class sandwiches to London's business district … but they have greater aspirations.
"We want to launch in Europe and the U.S., but not until we have learned our trade in England," Montagu told reporters.
And their aspirations may prove to be possible as the Sandwich family taps into several burgeoning markets.
They intend to use mainly organic produce and meat fillings from small independent British farmers, keeping with recent public concern in Britain over genetically modified produce and beef infected with mad cow disease.
And it doesn't hurt them to have Robert Earl, former president of the Hard Rock Cafe, as one of their major backers.
The lunchtime sandwich market in Britain is so strong that McDonald's recently got into the act, buying 33 percent of Pret a Manger, a major Britain-based sandwich chain.
Inveterate Gambler or Dedicated Public Servant?
The legend surrounding the fourth Earl of Sandwich, inventor of the sandwich, is thick and reports surrounding the invention of the Western world's favorite snack differ.
According to Encyclopedia Britannica, the earl asked that some sliced meat be put between two pieces of bread and be brought to him so that he wouldn't have to abandon his seat in an all-night poker game.
The earl's biographer, however, paints a rather more proper picture of him claiming the sandwich was inspired by a long night at his desk, working hard as a government official.
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