In the center of Oulu resides a small restaurant that brings forward the Dutch sandwich culture mixed with Caribbean influences. On the menu of Robbie’s The Sandwich Shop are delicious sandwiches, innovative homemade sodas and a sense of community.
Robbie van der Leek is originally from Holland, where he’d worked in hospitality for multiple years. After a course in the European Bartender School, he got interested in making drinks, which led to him starting his own soda company, Robbie’s Soda.
“That was four months of fun and then corona came, with the shutdown of bars and restaurants. I couldn’t figure out how to keep the company going”, van der Leek reminisces.
He ended up moving to Oulu with his then-partner and felt like he wanted to keep the Robbie’s brand going, but realized just selling soda would not be enough at that point. That’s how Robbie’s The Sandwich Shop was born.
“Sandwiches are a bigger thing in Holland and I used to work in a sandwich bar back there as well. That just got me, okay, Oulu needs a good sandwich shop.”
Robbie’s takes significant influence from the Caribbean, from the menu to the interior of the restaurant, with a chill, holiday-like beach style and reggae playlist in the background. Van der Leek has lived in the Caribbean in the past and wanted to bring a part of that culture to Oulu as well.
“I kind of make the joke that I went from plus thirty degrees to minus thirty degrees”, he laughs.
A perfect sandwich
Van der Leek describes Robbie’s as being a place that packs up international flavors into a sandwich. When he started the restaurant, he found that there were really no sandwich restaurants in Oulu and the culture regarding sandwiches was practically non-existent.
“My idea was to change that and show what’s possible with sandwiches. So far we’re doing a pretty good job with showing that and people have started to appreciate it more and more.”
He describes their products as proper big sandwiches, where all the fillings are carefully decided. The frequently changing menu includes sandwiches that take inspiration from different cuisines, for example Italian or different Asian countries. Unlike many sandwich places, the sandwiches on the menu are pre-decided, which takes the pressure of having to choose what goes well with what off the customer.
“We wanted to create something that we think is perfect, we choose the protein that goes with the right vegetables.”
Apart from sandwiches, van der Leek is still very passionate about drinks. The restaurant serves homemade lemonades and iced tea, sometimes experimenting with other types of drinks as well. He mentions wanting to restart his own soda company sometime in the future, perhaps even on an international scale.
“I have like fifty flavors in my head that could all work and I would love to build that up again.”
Building a community
Robbie’s The Sandwich Shop has been open for around a year and has already found a loyal customer base that keeps on growing. Robbie’s gets praise not only for their amazing food, but also for the service that van der Leek takes great pride in. His years of working in hospitality have taught him how important it is to really meet your customers.
“I love that from the moment you come in, somebody will guide you through the whole thing. One thing I try to do is that we bring the food ourselves and we always ask if everything is okay. I try to teach my staff that as well.”
Van der Leek enjoys having conversations with their customers and getting immediate feedback through them. It also helps with building community, something he finds extremely important. Customers, other local businesses and restaurants, they’re all a part of a local community he hopes to gather around Robbie’s eventually.
“I’m very easy to start conversations with and just asking them a question starts a conversation little by little, you start to get to know the people who come in, and we really try to build that community bond.”
The most memorable type of feedback is directed towards their main product.
“Sometimes we get reviews that this is probably the best sandwich they’ve ever had. That’s always one of the biggest compliments you can get, because in the whole world, getting the best sandwich here in Oulu, that’s not something that somebody talks about”, he laughs.
