Alvin Ord’s sandwich shop coming to Bluffton this summer

Bluffton residents won’t have to drive to Port Royal anymore to eat at Alvin Ord’s Sandwich Shop.

Partners Corri Mc Kenzie, Eric Lunde and Chris Lunde intend to open an Alvin Ord’s in Old Town on May River Road, in the building that formerly housed The Sippin Cow.

Chris Lunde said he hopes to open the restaurant on June 1.

He said his partners have come to an agreement with Tom Lewis, who owns the Port Royal location. The partners have worked with Lewis over the past three months to learn how he assembles his sandwiches and makes his bread. The bread recipe – Lewis’ grandmother’s – is a closely guarded secret.

“Frankly, we love it,” Lunde said, when asked how he’d decided to open an Alvin Ord’s in Bluffton. “Every chance we got to go to Beaufort, for whatever reason, usually involved a stop there.”

Lunde and his partners are all Bluffton residents. This is the crew’s first foray into restaurant ownership. But Lunde and Mc Kenzie both have extensive experience in the management and food business. Lunde managed a large casino in Minnesota for 16 years, he said, and Mc Kenzie was formerly the manager at Hudson’s Seafood House on the Docks.

“This is the first time in 30 years I’ve felt confident enough to let somebody open one up in Bluffton, or in Hilton Head,” said Lewis, whose owned and operated the Port Royal location for almost 34 years. “They’re at the right age, they’re quality oriented, and they’ve got experience to make it a go.”

Lewis said he’d gotten to know the partners well, and that they’d bonded over classic cars.

“(In) (Lunde’s) father’s garage is a 1969 Corvette with a 427 engine, which is a rare beast,” Lewis said, recalling a meeting they’d had at Eric Lunde’s place.

Lewis called his agreement with the partners a “licensing agreement” – rather than a franchise. He said he’s been compensated to teach the Bluffton crew how to make his products, but that all the profits will be theirs. He also said that there are stipulations in the agreement that would allow him to remove the Alvin Ord’s name from the Bluffton location if the quality of the new shop’s products declined.

But Lewis doesn’t see that happening.

Chris Lunde said there will be a few differences at the Bluffton location. He and his partners plan to sell beer and wine, and they might not offer the same menu as Lewis’ shop.

“He has people driving from other states to come get a sandwich,” Lunde said, referring to Lewis’ success.

“We could hope to be half as lucky.”

This story was originally published April 22, 2016 at 4:52 PM with the headline "Alvin Ord’s sandwich shop coming to Bluffton this summer."