{"id":239670,"date":"2025-07-05T08:48:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-05T08:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/239670\/"},"modified":"2025-07-05T08:48:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-05T08:48:12","slug":"the-sandwich-shop-with-queues-down-the-street-customers-know-by-the-colour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/239670\/","title":{"rendered":"The sandwich shop with queues down the street customers know ‘by the colour’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Derek’s is opening on Lark Lane, marking the brand’s fourth site in a number of years\"EthanEthan Woodroofe (right) and Adam Taylor came up with the concept for Derek’s Coffee & Sandwiches after their many trips to see their friend in Brooklyn<\/p>\n

The owners behind a popular New York-inspired sandwich shop have made a \u201cpromise\u201d for its new Liverpool site. Lunch spot Derek\u2019s already has venues dotted around the city, including on Allerton<\/a> Road, Crosby<\/a> and most recently Berry Street.<\/a><\/p>\n

The brand was created by friends Ethan Woodroofe and Adam Taylor<\/a> after the former visited the Big Apple and felt that “there was nowhere in Liverpool to get a real sandwich packed with proper ingredients like we\u2019d had in New York”. Using what little savings that they had, the friends launched their first shop in March 2021.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to today, and the company is preparing to launch on Lark Lane<\/a>. The venue has been painted in the teal colour that has become synonymous with Derek\u2019s and the logo has been plastered onto the wall as well.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the ECHO about the new venture<\/a>, Ethan, 28, said: \u201cOne of the sickest things ever is people walking past the new building and knowing it’s just us by the colour. That was always the goal really – it\u2019s green, Derek\u2019s green.<\/p>\n

\"AdamAdam Taylor and Ethan Woodroofe own Derek’s Coffee & Sandwiches(Image: Derek’s)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe new store is more of the same, with amazing sandwiches. But in the past four years we\u2019ve learned so much so this one will be the best one yet. It\u2019s been designed in a way to make service quicker and make it more comfortable for people to get around the shop.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bigger and better Derek\u2019s really. To be honest, we weren\u2019t looking for a new site but when Lark Lane came up it wasn\u2019t even a question really. It came to us and you can\u2019t turn down Lark Lane can you?\u201d<\/p>\n

An opening date has yet to be confirmed but Ethan said the hope was by the end of July. As of now, the co-founder said they are focusing on finishing joinery work and the seating arrangements.<\/p>\n

Popular Derek’s sandwiches include The Grinder (salami, prosciutto, chicken, emmental, tomato, tapenade, Grinder slaw and honey) and Gabagool Sandwich (prosciutto, cappicola, salami, mozzarella, tomato, basil, rocket, pesto and balsamic glaze).<\/p>\n

\"TheThe new Lark Lane venture<\/p>\n

Ethan previously told the ECHO how the brand started in 2021.<\/a> He said: “Me and Adam have been best mates since we were about two years old. We went to nursery together, primary school and secondary school.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore Derek\u2019s, I did filmmaking and Adam went straight into hospitality from school. We always used to sit next to each other in every class and say: \u2018One day, we\u2019ll open up our own food place\u2019. During lockdown, we\u2019d both saved up some money; Adam was going to move to Canada, and I\u2019d just come back from New York to see our mate who\u2019d moved there.<\/p>\n

“While I was in New York, I was eating in delis and saying that there was nothing like this back home; we don\u2019t really take sandwiches that seriously at home and I\u2019d love to do something like this.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew York sandwiches are massive and well thought out; it\u2019s not just your standard ham salad sandwich; it\u2019s imported Italian meats, real cheeses and real produce which is actually quite good for you – the food is proper food and a sandwich is a big, wholesome meal.<\/p>\n

\"Derek'sDerek’s Coffee and Sandwiches will be serves up coffee and homemade iced teas<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew Adam knew the hospitality side of things and I knew a lot of the creative side because I also used to work as a chef, so together we could have a go at it. I\u2019ve always had a passion for food, cooking and American culture, so it was basically just a love affair of all the things that we love.”<\/p>\n

On the first opening day, the pair naively predicted 30 customers, \u201cif they were lucky\u201d to turn up. However, this wasn\u2019t the case at all. Ethan added: \u201cCut to 11 am on opening day and over 100 turned up to support us and queued down the road whilst we tried to keep a brave face and act like we had it all under control.<\/p>\n

“The next day we got in at 5am and cut enough pickles and cold cuts to feed a village. Since that first day, [our customers have] supported us unconditionally, waited in the long queues, had the sad Derek\u2019s moment when their favourite hoagie has sold out, been excited for new subs, worn our merch with pride and told friends about us.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re an independent business that\u2019s grown a team of 25 plus amazing and hard working people who are as passionate about Derek\u2019s as we are. Here’s to three shops in three years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Derek’s is opening on Lark Lane, marking the brand’s fourth site in a number of yearsEthan Woodroofe (right)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239671,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,393,786,4884,8898,179,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-239670","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-food-and-drink","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-lark-lane","13":"tag-liverpool","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114799765500133473","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}