Oliver’s Deli and Culinary Program – Putting the ‘Deli’ in Delicious

If you have ever been to Oliver’s Deli for something from the Chef’s Case, or grabbed a ready-made salad, soup, hot bar item, or meal from our Grab and Go, you know that Oliver’s Deli is like no other grocery store deli you have ever visited. For the uninitiated, there is no better time to check out this stellar department’s amazing offerings!

This week at Oliver’s, our Deli team has selected a collection of our most popular items to showcase, and all at special pricing! This Deli-cious special sale is good news if you are a devoted fan of any of these items, and a great reason to check out something new if you haven’t tried these customer favorites before.

Note: All prices in effect from March 29-April 4, 2023 at all four Oliver’s Market Sonoma County locations.

Literally hundreds of our tasty, convenient creations are freshly prepared in our kitchens each week by our professionally trained chefs and their teams, with quality that is easily on par with many restaurants. The quality ingredients, variety of offerings, and number of creations is simply unmatched.

How did the award-winning Oliver’s Deli become what it is and what is really happening behind the scenes in each of our stores? And what are our customers’ and our Deli Coordinator’s favorite items?

Let’s dig in and find out!

We asked Oliver’s Deli Coordinator James Schwedhelm to provide us with some fun facts and stats about the Deli.

Did you know:

  • The Oliver’s Deli markets over 500 items in the prepared foods program, including those in the Chef’s Case (entrees, sides, and salads); Soups, Taqueria-made Grab and Go, Grab and Go Entrees, Salads, Sides and Dinners; Dressings, Marinades & Rubs, and Hummus and other Dips.
  • This is in addition to our Deli team’s robust offering of over the counter sandwiches, Taqueria items, Catering Tray program, Stony Point Pizzeria, and Windsor Tavern programs.
  • Of all of the foods sold in our Deli, about 80% is entirely made in-house, with just a few of our favorite suppliers delivering prepared products

So what sets the Oliver’s Deli program apart? Oliver’s differentiates itself from other Delis by:

  • Offering an unmatched variety of rotating, seasonal options for ready to enjoy, freshly prepared food.
  • Using quality ingredients in all of their creations, but particularly in the area of proteins. Petaluma Poultry Rocky Chicken is used exclusively, along with Oliver’s Choice 100% Angus Beef. Throughout the Deli and Kitchen, the team uses as many locally made ingredients as possible.
  • Staffing a kitchen staff team totaling 260, working at our four stores to prepare these foods daily.
  • Taking pride in our quality and variety! We enjoy creating great meal options for our customers.

How Did We Get Here?

According to Oliver’s founder and president Steve Maass, our Deli program has developed the same way as many programs at Oliver’s. “The Deli has developed and evolved organically through time,” Steve explains. “In 1994, when our first store in Cotati was expanded, the Deli was expanded in the new space. The Gourmet Cheese department was added at this point, too. And in 1995, we added the Taqueria to our Deli.”

Along the way, the Montecito store was added, and then the Stony Point store in 2007, which included the large kitchen space. “With the opening of Stony Point came the Commissary Kitchen and a bigger commitment to house-made items. We had been ordering a lot of prepared foods from other companies, and ended that to move to in-house meal and deli preparations.”

Steve noted that entering Oliver’s creations in the Sonoma County Harvest Fair in its earlier years played a key role in building up the awareness and popularity for the Deli and Bakery. It also encouraged development of new items in both departments.

Customer Favorites

We asked James to look at our sales reports and share with us the most popular items in each section of our prepared foods program. Ta-Da! We have the list of our best-sellers, all with special pricing this week!

You can learn more about James’ favorites below, but (drumroll, please…) these are the items our customers buy most often all year long!

  • Oliver’s Own Potato Salad, $4.99/lb.
  • Oliver’s Own Spaghetti & Meatballs, 16 oz. Package, $9.99/ea.
  • Oliver’s Own Fit Friendly Asian Chicken Salad, 8 oz. Package, $4.99/ea.
  • Oliver’s Own Chicken Noodle Soup, 32 oz. Container, $9.99/ea.; 16 oz. Container, $5.99/ea.
  • Oliver’s Own Ranch Dressing, 12oz.Bottle, $4.99/ea.
  • Oliver’s Own Pico de Gallo, 16 oz. Container, $4.99/ea.
  • Oliver’s Own Turkey Pesto Panini, $10.99/ea.
  • Oliver’s Own Grilled Chicken Sandwich, $10.99/ea.
  • Oliver’s Own Chicken Caesar Wrap, $7.99/ea.
  • Oliver’s Own Pizza Dough, 16 oz. Package, $2.99/ea.
  • Oliver’s Own Cheese Enchiladas, 14 oz. Package, $7..99/ea.

Have you tried all of these? Did any of your favorites make the list? No matter what you choose here, odds are good you will enjoy it, hopefully as much as the loyal fans do!

Behind the Scenes

While some stores have an off-site commissary kitchen, we prefer to keep everything together at our store locations, with each store specializing in different parts of our program.

Who makes what, you ask? Well, along with ongoing Deli and Taqueria business, here is how it all breaks down:

  • Our Cotati Kitchen team is responsible for all Panini and Grab and Go (packaged) Salads
  • The Montecito Kitchen handles Salad Dressings (retail and salad bar), Pico de Gallo, Fire Roasted Salsa, and Aioli
  • Our Stony Point Kitchen is our largest kitchen and serves as the main hub of the prepared food program. They handle preparation of most Grab and Go Dinners, house-made Soups, and Bulk Signature Salads, Quiche, Pot Pies, Marinades, Rubs, Pulled Pork (for Oliver’s BBQ), and Beans and Rice.
  • The Windsor Kitchen team is responsible for our Spiced Tavern Nuts (sold in Bulk Bins and worth discovering!) and other Bulk items.

Personal Favorites

We asked Deli Coordinator James Schwedhelm for the inside scoop on what HE chooses to buy most often from our Deli. Why not ask the guy behind the program, right? This seems like some great intel, so here we go!

  • Favorite Oliver’s Prepared Dinner: Chicken Cordon Bleu
  • Favorite Oliver’s Soup: Chicken Tortilla
  • Favorite Oliver’s Grab and Go Salad: Mexican Chicken Salad
  • Favorite Oliver’s Salad Dressing: Caesar
  • Favorite Oliver’s Salsa: Spicy jalapeno
  • Favorite Oliver’s Panini: Blackened Turkey Panini
  • Favorite Oliver’s Deli Salad: Oliver’s Potato Salad

So there you have it, Oliver’s fans! All kinds of great information about Oliver’s Deli and Prepared Food program is now yours. We hope you’ll take advantage of this week’s featured pricing to discover a new customer favorites as you find some new personal go-to items of your own.

Bon Appetit!

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