No visit to New Orleans is complete without eating a po’boy. Created in 1929, we all have the Electric Street Railway strike to thank for these delicious sandwiches. Bennie and Clovis Martin gave striking streetcar employees free sandwiches. As the story goes, they’d shout, “Here comes another poor boy!” whenever a striker would walk into their shop.
“When the historic po’boy sandwich became popular…the guys at Parkway said, ‘we’re going to start making this sandwich too.’ So, they started making po’boy bread, which is a 32-inch loaf consistent from beginning to end. We fill it with local products, which would be oysters, shrimp, catfish, any kind of ham or roast beef is a classic one too. It’s a classic New Orleans sandwich…and that’s what you get when you come to Parkway Bakery,” said Justin Kennedy, General Manager and Head Chef of Parkway Bakery.
Established in 1911, Parkway Bakery started as a little corner shop making French bread, donuts and pastries. After its owners began making po’boys, they didn’t stop until 1993 when they sold the business to Kennedy’s uncle, Jay Nix. After using the building for storage for 10 years, Nix and Kennedy reopened Parkway Bakery in 2003.
“The public came out of the woodwork to come back to Parkway. They’ll let you know if something’s not exactly right and eventually, with the help of the customers, it formed us to the place it always was with the food and the vibe and everything. It’s definitely one of the most popular restaurants in the city of New Orleans today,” said Kennedy.
Parkway Bakery uses CamSquares® to keep their gravy safe and fresh for one of their customer favorites.
“We use a ton of Cambro products. Our main thing is roast beef, and we go through literally 50 gallons of gravy or more in just a few days. And we definitely use CamSquares, a ton of those, for just roast beef gravy,” said Kennedy.
When Parkway Bakery had a chance to put in a new, huge walk-in cooler and freezer, they decided to install Camshelving® Premium Series instead of the metal shelving they used previously.
“We were used to the wire racks with the little coating around it, so nasty…there’s no way to clean it. They’re heavy, they’re bulky and nothing ever gets clean,” said Kennedy. “The Cambro shelving makes it so easy. It makes the weekly cleaning easy. Cleaning in the walk-in cooler that would never get done gets done on a weekly basis now because of the way those racks are designed.”
When there was an emergency and Kennedy needed to move his food to keep it safe, cleaning up the aftermath was extremely easy.
“The main thing in the last couple of years, we’ve had a couple hurricanes, and the power has gone out and we had to move everything to freezer trucks outside and I can’t tell you how easy it is. If we had those big, bulky wire racks, the ones you can’t take apart, it would be a mess trying to clean up in there after the fact,” said Kennedy.
In addition to Camshelving, Parkway Bakery uses Dunnage Racks in their storage areas to safely hold inventory 12 inches off the floor. Dunnage Racks hold up to 3,000 lbs. and their slotted design promotes maximum air circulation around perishable products.
Contact your local Cambro sales rep to start your Camshelving design today.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: ADRIANA DESIDERIO IS THE DIGITAL CONTENT MANAGER AT CAMBRO.
