Angers Deli Does More than Sandwiches

Talk about purpose-driven eating.

Angers Deli in Sarasota—a longtime landmark with famous “two-handed sandwiches”—doesn’t just fill your belly when you visit. It also gives you the chance to support those less fortunate around the world.

The small, square building on North Lime Avenue that houses Angers Deli was once a grocery store and a pharmacy. In the late 1970s, two brothers with the last name Anger opened a sandwich shop there. After several changes of ownership in the late 2000s, the deli was purchased by Pastor Jim Minor of Harvest Tabernacle, located right beside the Angers Deli building.

Harvest Tabernacle has a special focus on serving the underserved. They also operate Harvest House, which provides housing for the homeless as well as drug and alcohol rehabilitation.

“We said if we were going to buy it, it would have to be for a purpose,” says Jonathan Minor, Pastor Minor’s son, who manages Angers Deli and helps to operate Harvest House.

The Minor family decided to use the profits from Angers Deli to support Restoration Ranch, which offers once-abandoned or orphaned children in the Dominican Republic a place to call home. Restoration Ranch is operated by the Minors’ longtime friends Danny and Denise Stone. Restoration Ranch is located on a 20-acre mango farm in Peravia, Dominican Republic. Restaurant profits also support Iris Global, a Mozambique-based charitable group that feeds the hungry.

When you eat at Angers Deli, you can get a concrete sense of how your next meal helps those who are less fortunate. There are beautiful photos on the wall taken by Tabernacle Harvest Associate Pastor Dan Minor (another of Pastor Minor’s sons) that showcase Restoration Ranch and the work of Iris Global. Under each sign, there are statements such as “Digging a well = 5 catered events this year” and “Furnish a room = 5 sandwiches a week.”

Amongst the charitable focus, there’s also the appeal of the food at Angers Deli. Jonathan Minor said some of their most famous sandwiches include the meatball sub, the hot pastrami, the Italian sausage, and the reuben. Pastor Minor makes homemade meatballs, and there’s also homemade cheese, pasta salad or a potato salad. You can get some sandwiches in regular size or “two-handed.” There are wraps, salad bowls, and fresh-squeezed lemonade.

ABC 7’s culinary director Judi Gallagher provides baked goods like brownies to sell at Angers and has provided a wealth of helpful advice to keep the operation running smoothly, says Jonathan Minor.

Many of the customers at Angers Deli are regulars. In fact, some visited Angers as children with family and now continue the tradition, says Jonathan Minor.

“Customers love it here. Some people have literally been coming here for 30 years,” he says.