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The Lunch Bag is like ‘Cheers’ without alcohol

BY MELODY BIRKETT Progress Contributor

Sandy Sinclair and her daughter Erica LaBate have been serving up sandwiches, soup and salads at The Lunch Bag near Via Linda and 90th Street in Scottsdale for 12 years.

And they’ve developed such a loyal and longtime clientele base that they feel like their restaurant has become a neighborhood landmark.

“We’re a fun place to come to,” Sinclair said. “The customers have been coming here so long it’s like the ‘Cheers’ of the neighborhood. They want to laugh. We’re always having a good time here. We don’t take life very seriously.”

The restaurant only serves lunch from 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m. It offers a small dinein area as well as take-out and delivery through delivery services.

A previous owner ran the business under the same name but Sinclair said it was a different business model.

“We have deli sandwiches and a long line of signature sandwiches,” said Sandy. “They are gourmet sandwiches and they’re huge. My popular ones are a New Yorker with homemade coleslaw, Thousand Island and hot pastrami; Turkey Green Chili, which is a turkey sandwich with green chilis and our own salsa mayonnaise. We have Italian sandwiches. We make homemade meatloaf.

“Everything’s homemade. We have homemade tuna which is albacore, chicken salad and egg salad. It’s a big menu.”

Soup is also made fresh every day along with salad dressings, sandwich sauces and desserts. “Every day I have oatmeal almond cookies, peanut butter, chocolate chip and a triple chocolate brownie,” Sandy said, adding, “Our meat is cooked local so it’s always fresh, not frozen. I have a guy who cooks it for us. He owns a big meat company here in town and he sells to high-dollar restaurants. He’s been my friend forever so he cooks my meat, too, for me.”

Breakfast was once on the menu but Sinclair said it didn’t work out.

“It’s not competitive with fast food,” she explained. “I can’t get the prices they give to sell a breakfast sandwich for $3. Moneywise, it wasn’t good for us.

“Plus, we’re a family business. My daughter wants to be able to take her kids to school and pick them up from school.”

Despite the pandemic, customers remained loyal.

“We have the best customers,” said Sandy. “They really helped us a lot. They still wanted their food. They didn’t want us to shut down. They wanted to come here. And a lot of our customers - since we’ve been here so long - are older and they want to come here and get the tuna that’s already made or the chicken salad or the egg salad and buy a pint of it and hunker down at their house. So, it worked out really well for them, too.”

She’s proud of the fact that The Lunch Bag offers “quality food for a good price.”

“I think my customer base is probably all of the doctors and dentist of�ices,” she said. “And I’m just in a great location.”

When mom and daughter started, Sinclair said, “We’d go around to all of the of�ices with our menu and free cookies. We gave away our cookies for a year or two. And everybody just started coming here.

She said 90% of their business is repeat customers and the other 10% is from people Googling neighborhood sandwich shops.

“We do anything for our customers,” Sinclair said. “If you don’t want to get out of your car and make payment over the phone, I’ll run it out to your car. We’ll do whatever it takes.”

And because she and her daughter comprise “a well oiled machine,” Sinclair said they have no need for employees.

Sandy said there are no plans for expansion, adding she started in the restaurant business when she was 15. She’s now 70.

“I’m never going to retire. I think staying at home is boring. I’ve been in this business for so long. This is all I want to do. I really like talking to the customers and enjoying our time here.”

LaBate said working with her mom “Is a blessing.”

And her mom feels the same way.

“She’s the best daughter ever,” said Sinclair. “Every day when I come in she always tells me �irst thing, ‘You look so pretty.’ She’s such a nice person.”

Sinclair has three other children and eight grandchildren and noted, “Another reason I can’t work longer hours: I got kids to see.”

Information: thelunchbagaz.com, 8989 E. Vía Linda, 480-860-6659.

Sandy Sinclair, left, and her daughter Erica LaBate boast that all their menu items at The Lunch Bag are homemade. The Lunch Bag sports an extensive menu featuring generous sandwiches and other items.

(Facebook)