 On Tuesday, December 20th, Isaac’s employees from locations in the Harrisburg & York area and Central Office volunteered at New Hope Ministries in Mechanicsburg. The volunteers started off by packing bags with vitamins for children along with info on healthy eating.
Next they worked on sorting and packing items for the  Central Pennsylvania Food Bank’s “Power Pack Program” which provides backpacks of food for at-risk children for the weekend. Organizations, such as New Hope Ministries, sign up to be Power Pack sites where the food is pre-packed and distributed to the kids who need it.
It was a great way for Isaac’s employees to get excited for the upcoming “Share The Warmth” campaign starting January 1st, 2012. The theme is “Buy Soup, Feed Hungry Kids!” and for every cup or bowl of soup sold with a sandwich or large green salad in January, Isaac’s will donate $1 to programs, like the Power Pack Program, that feed hungry kids in Central Pennsylvania.
In addition to Central Pennsylvania Food Bank’s Power Pack Program, Isaac’s will be donating to Greater Berks Food Bank’s Weekender Backpack Buddy Program, Chester County Food Bank’s Weekend Food Backpack Program and the Power Packs Project in Lancaster. Check back soon for more information…and definitely remember to Buy Soup, Feed Hungry Kids in January at Isaac’s!
 On December 4th, a group of 14 employees and friends volunteered at the holiday party for Celebrate Down Syndrome, a parent group that meets to offer support, friendship, and education as well as sharing the wonderful accomplishments of their children with Down Syndrome.
Our fun afternoon included arts and crafts with the children, games and indoor bowling,  celebrating Santa’s arrival with gifts, refreshments, Christmas carols with instruments, and playing (and hugging!) these beautiful children.
Thank you, employees of Strasburg, Granite Run, Spring Ridge and the Central Office for spreading holiday cheer to these special families.
To learn more about “Celebrate Down Syndrome”, visit www.celebrateds.org .
 Isaac's Employees at Capital Region "Day of Caring" Eight Isaac’s employees participated in a rescheduled Capital Region “Day of Caring” on October 18th at the United Methodist Home for Children in Mechanicsburg. UMHC provides emergency shelter, residential treatment, and individual and family counseling for hundreds of children each year. Our employees took out old carpet and worked on painting projects in the administration building. Harrisburg District Isaac’s also collected toiletries for the residents.
 Tessa and Dorrie tackle a painting project! Captained by Tessa Price, GM at Rossmoyne Isaac’s, she was joined by Sherri Esbenshade, Amber Corey, Vicki Pakosh, Neal Swiler, Jesse Motter, Dorrie Courogen and Greg Drake.
Thank You, Harrisburg District employees, for caring about your local community!
 Vicki works on removing carpet staples!
Filbert, our Flamingo mascot, has been talking about it on Facebook and I’m sure some of you saw the article in the Lancaster Sunday News…our Mt. Joy Isaac’s is finally open! I had lunch on the patio on opening day and LOVED it! The colors, artwork, and layout…everything about this new Isaac’s has me enamored. But what really impresses me is that, just like our Hershey Isaac’s, this restaurant has our Greener Flamingo logo on it’s entry wall!
Over two years ago, we created a committee to come up with ways to become greener….and the Greener Flamingo Initiative was born! It’s now a symbol of  Isaac’s commitment to be environmentally-responsible by exploring greener technology that will benefit our employees, our customers, our communities and our Earth. We use the Greener Flamingo logo to show where we’ve lessened our carbon footprint. Many of our committee’s ideas were incorporated into our Hershey Isaac’s last year and now into Mt. Joy as well.
A new green design we’re using in Mt. Joy is “hyper-recycling” (don’t bother Googling this word yet…as it’s a Greg Drake, our Senior Manager of Facilities and Purchasing, original!), where the goal is to take products that we would normally send to a facility for recycling (and possibly ending up in a landfill) and recycle them ourselves! Our countertops, booth wall caps, bathroom vanities, and pillar caps on the patio are all made out of concrete, old plates and broken glass collected from our restaurants!
Some other greener elements you’ll find at Mt. Joy Isaac’s are…
- Bathrooms that feature lighting controlled with occupancy sensors, automatic sensor faucets and low-flow plumbing fixtures.
- Building materials made with recycled content (table tops, acoustical ceiling tiles, dining room carpeting, etc.
- A rock garden around the patio to capture rainwater runoff from the roof.
- Stained concrete floor to avoid using new raw materials.
- Highly-efficient HVAC equipment & controls.
- Use of a new non-ozone depleting refrigerant.
- A combination of CO2 sensors & dual enthalpy economizers.
Just taking over an existing building and remodeling it instead of using new materials to build a new building is a green feature itself!
If you want to learn more about the Greener Flamingo visit www.isaacsdeli.com/GreenerFlamingo.asp Also, be sure to keep checking back with this blog and our Facebook page for updates.
 Some of the houses being painted as part of Berks County's "Day of Caring" On September 14th, seven employees and friends of Wyomissing Isaac’s participated in United Way of Berks County‘s annual “Day of Caring.” Our “Let’s Paint the Town” project had our employees painting the outside of a home in the Center Point neighborhood, under the umbrella of West Reading’s Elm Street Neighborhood Advisory Committee.
There was an immediate and dramatic improvement to the entire block in just one day when, collectively, 72 Day of Caring volunteers helped improve 11 properties. Ten of them had their complete facades painted, including accent colors for each one, and another property had the entire building painted.
 Candace Sahtout, AGM at Wyomissing Isaac's, looks like a painting pro here! Isaac’s encourages and celebrates employees who volunteer in their local communities. Our participants were: Ray and Melissa Metzger, Scott Wode, Candace Sahtout, Emily Kline, Tyler Light and Tim.
 Tyler Light, Wyomissing Isaac's Kitchen Manager, makes this look so easy!
 Group shot of the Isaac's volunteers. On Saturday, September 10th, 19 Isaac’s employees and their children joined 100+ volunteers from other community-minded businesses in United Way of Lancaster County’s annual “Day of Caring.” We spent the morning at Schreiber Pediatric Rehab Center counting the 25,000 rubber duckies we rescued from the Conestoga River during their annual “Rubber Duckie Race” in July, then put the ducks in numerical order and bagged them until next year’s race!
 First we counted the duckies! Our employees and their children had a great time together, making our local community just a little better for all of us!
 And then the counting began!
A big thank you goes out to our fans in Lancaster County who recently voted for Isaac’s as their favorite in 3 different categories in Lancaster Newspapers 11th Annual Readers’ Choice Awards! Isaac’s was voted Favorite Business Lunch, Favorite Casual Restaurant and Favorite Deli! What an honor!
And we wouldn’t have such great fans without the wonderful employees at our 7 Lancaster locations. A big thank you goes out to them as well. They work hard each day to make sure our customers get the best food and the best service and it’s their dedication and commitment that wins us awards like these.
We’re celebrating 28 years of Isaac’s with a special anniversary menu that features the sandwiches from our original 1983 menu. One thing you might have noticed is no mention of a Mallard, Twisted Chicken, Rose of Sharon…or any other of our popular pretzel roll sandwiches. I KNOW…an Isaac’s menu WITHOUT our famous pretzel roll sandwiches!?!? The more I thought about it, the more I suspected there was an interesting story to be told…and to my credit, I was right! Otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this post today!
 The Twisted Chicken! I decided to start my sandwich sleuthing by eating a Twisted Chicken (I figured that would be a great way to get inspired, too). As I munched, I sorted through our big file called “Old Menus”. I found a menu from 1994 that did not have any pretzel sandwiches and then one from 1996 where they appeared company-wide. My investigation got another break when my boss, Phil Wenger, and our menu queen, Jen Shivery, told me to talk with Doug Kaufmann, a former Isaac’s General Manager from our East York location at Meadowbrook Village.
 Doug (l.) and Phil (r.) back in the day! According to Doug, one day in 1994 Pat the Bread Guy (who used to deliver bread to Isaac’s, other vendors and to Central Market) had a left-over box of the famous big Philly-style soft pretzels that he gave to him rather than throwing them out! So Doug got some ham, Swiss cheese and mustard and made the first Pretzel Sandwiches at Isaac’s and fed his employees! They raved so much about the twisted concoction that he started ordering more of the pretzels and running them as specials. The idea spread like wildfire through the company, which had around 12 locations by that time (1995) and everyone wanted to get twisted!
 A sampling of all the wonderful treats Smittie's makes! But there were some problems with the pretzels from Philadelphia…they didn’t have a great shelf life and they burned easily in our grills. After a brief search we discovered Smittie’s Soft Pretzels, in York County no less, who had been making pretzels since 1934. Even better, they had already developed a pretzel roll that they sold at their store and highway stands in York County. Their rolls, made with a distinct stone hearth baked recipe, created the perfect combination for some of Isaac’s Famous Grilled Sandwiches.
After a few modifications and a brief trial period, Isaac’s Pretzels Sandwiches became a part of the flock in 1996 and are officially 15 years old this year. Whew…after all that sleuthing, I think I deserve a treat…like my personal favorite Pretzel Sandwich, the Mallard! What’s your favorite pretzel sandwich?
 My favorite pretzel sandwich of all...the Mallard! And that’s the latest scoop from JohnnyKat Roberts, Isaac’s Marketing Coordinator!
 One of the window spaces at Mt. Joy. Just like a lot of you out there, I can’t wait until our new Mt. Joy Isaac’s opens. It’ll be our 20th location and we’re still on schedule to open the end of September. Construction is moving along rather nicely…if you stop by you’ll notice some large openings in the side of the building. They will be future windows to overlook our patio and rain garden. Yes…you heard that right…a rain garden!
 This is where the patio and rain garden will be. Rain gardens are very effective at reducing the volume of storm water runoff and capturing harmful pollutants. They differ from normal gardens because they’re specifically designed to hold and soak in the rain water runoff…up to 30% more water…while still looking beautiful!
In addition to being able to see our cool patio and rain garden, the opening of our west wall will allow more natural light into the building and reduce our need for artificial light. Of course, all that light can generate tremendous amounts of heat, which will be awesome in the winter but not so awesome in the summer, so we’ll install solar shades to keep the heat to a low roar and further reduce our need for energy.
 Here's the Greener Flamingo sign at Hershey Isaac's.
These are just a few of the various new initiatives we’ll be incorporating at our new Mt. Joy location – our continuing commitment of learning how to be a greener restaurant. Our site selection, alone, is green as it allows our entire operation at Isaac’s to be more efficient, ultimately reducing our carbon footprint…from deliveries to support from our Central Office…Mt. Joy is in the center of Isaac’s operations which reaches out as far east as Exton, PA and southwest to Hanover, PA. Check back for more progress reports and green initiatives from our new Mt. Joy location and visit www.isaacsdeli.com/GreenerFlamingo.asp for info on how we’re striving to be greener at our other Isaac’s locations.
 The inside hallway at the Central Market Mall. This month we celebrate our 28-Year Anniversary with the original 28 sandwiches that started it all! As the guy you who founded Isaac’s, I have a lot of memories. I had originally planned on opening a restaurant at Meadowbrook Farmer’s Market but the deal fell through. So there I was, checking out an old doughnut shop in Downtown Lancaster, at 44 N. Queen St. in Central Market Mall.
 Lobby area of the original Isaac's in Lancaster. On August 5, 1983, the first Isaac’s opened with a lot of fanfare. Alan Jacobs, our current Senior Manager of Information Technology, actually made the first booths that quickly became a favorite! We had no computers and only hand written checks and there was a lot of yelling between the sandwich makers and the servers. We were just a bunch of kids, serving unique sandwiches to customers who flooded in at lunch–looking for fresh food served by fun people in a great environment.
 One of the dining rooms at the first Isaac's location in Lancaster
Back then, I was all over the place…grilling sandwiches, running the register, hosting, and even serving (well, tronning, as we call it). It was all hands on deck during our jam-packed lunches that catered to the business crowd. Evenings were more relaxed and our espresso machine was a hit with F&M college students. We eventually started hosting “coffee house nights” for a while. By 1985, we opened two more restaurants and were on our way to becoming the Isaac’s you know today.
I love being out in the community and hearing praises about the quality of our food, the high level of service we deliver, our community relationships, and how much customers actually love us! While a lot has changed, what hasn’t changed is what I’m most proud of:
- Isaac’s has always been about exceeding the expectations of our friends and customers.
- Isaac’s has always been about treating our employees with respect and fairness.
- Isaac’s has always been about community.
I think that’s how we’ve grown from one location back in 1983 to what will be our 20th location opening in Mt. Joy in the early Fall of this year. And by continuing to invest in our employees, giving fresh new looks to our older restaurants with renovations and slowly growing the chain with new company-owned locations I see nothing but success in Isaac’s future. My hope is that you continue this journey with us, as we continue doing what we do best…offering great food and legendary service in an atmosphere that is fun for customers and employees!
 How the Mt. Joy location will look!
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On Tuesday, December 20th, Isaac’s employees from locations in the Harrisburg & York area and Central Office volunteered at New Hope Ministries in Mechanicsburg. The volunteers started off by packing bags with vitamins for children along with info on healthy eating.
Central Pennsylvania Food Bank’s “Power Pack Program” which provides backpacks of food for at-risk children for the weekend. Organizations, such as New Hope Ministries, sign up to be Power Pack sites where the food is pre-packed and distributed to the kids who need it.
