Usually, bistros and fast food restaurants try to come up with gimmicks to get ahead of the competition, even when it comes to the humble sandwich. But one small business in Sankt Petersburg, Russia, is flipping that idea on its head by going for extreme simplicity. It sells the simplest, most basic sandwiches possible for a little over $1 each.
As a millennial, I still remember growing up in Eastern Europe during the final years of communism, before the collapse of the Soviet Union. Virtually the only thing we had for breakfast and as snacks were plain white bread sandwiches with baloney, butter or cheese. There just wasn’t anything else available. Many people from my generation still remember those simple but hearty meals fondly, but I never imagined a business model built around them.
Buterbrodik 66 (Russian for ‘Sandwich 66’) is a unique eatery in Sankt Petersburg, Russia, that only sells basic sandwiches with baloney, butter, cheese, or egg, for as little as 100 rubles ($1.36). There is nothing fancy about them; in fact, they look like they were made by some student in their dorm room, but that’s the appeal.
Owner Alexey Petrachev told PDM News that he and a friend started the business as a simple stand selling dirt-cheap sandwiches to cheer people up, but the whole thing evolved into something more, and now they have their own place. Like the sandwiches, it’s nothing fancy; it’s in a building no one else wants to operate in, on the outskirts of Sankt Petersburg, but it’s cheap, so they can stay in business.
“At first, the prices were 50 rubles—people would come in and say, ‘Oh, what a rip-off,’ and leave. Then we raised the price to 100 rubles—everyone immediately felt OK,” Petrachev said. “Considering our location—we’re on the outskirts, in a building and a place no one wants—we have enough to cover the cost of this space.”
A slab of butter between two slices of cheap, white bread might seem like a lot, but judging by the online reviews, a lot of people are more than willing to shell out 100 rubles for a sandwich, either out of melancholy or because they simply don’t want to do it themselves. After all, you need to buy a whole loaf of bread, a stick of butter, not to mention the time required to make the sandwich.
