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I'm A Gainesville Person- 43rd Street Deli
“I came to school here in 1968, and I never left,” said Cakmis, whose love for Gainesville and its people is apparent the moment you meet him. “It was just my kind of town. Gainesville’s a little homey, funky, hip… it’s great. I’m a Gainesville person.” He’s also passionate about supporting local businesses like his that are a major part of the area’s character. “There are too many franchises coming into this town,” he said. “People in Gainesville should keep their money here with local people doing business locally. As much money that I can spend here, I spend here. Gainesville is a good town, and it’s been very, very good to me.”
The 43rd Street Deli has been a landmark of this city since 1985 when Cakmis opened the first location in the Millhopper area. He turned to the restaurant business after several years in construction; homebuilding was on the decline due to high interest rates when a friend of his mentioned that it would be nice to have a good deli in Gainesville.
Cakmis had always loved deli foods and sandwiches, and he grew up in the restaurant business (his parents owned 33 establishments in Ohio), so he immediately took to the idea of opening his own place in Gainesville. But even with his life experience, he knew he still had much to learn. So he went to Sarasota and worked in a deli there for a month – for free. “All I did was just watch what they did,” he said. “Then I came back up here, and we started the Downtown Deli in 1983.” Two years later an opportunity arose to move to a location in Millhopper off of Northwest 43rd Street, and the 43rd Street Deli was born.
Today Cakmis operates two more locations of the deli, at Northwest 13th Street and on Southwest Williston Road (by the I-75 ramp). As his business has expanded, so has the restaurant’s breakfast and lunch menu. “We’ve gotten away from subs and gone into more of a diner atmosphere. We still have some of the best sandwiches in town — Reubens, Cubans, Phillys and we also have real good hot specials that make 43rd Street Deli a real hometown dinner. On weekends, customers will often see 30 or 40 specials in addition to the regular menu offerings.
Cakmis credits his parents for teaching him the importance of a good work ethic. His father came to the United States from Greece and worked long hours to provide for the family, and his mother was also a fixture in the family business. An early lesson taught him that if he wanted something, it wouldn’t just be handed to him. “In 1956, there was a bicycle called the Schwinn Jaguar. It was $125, and I wanted that bike.” His dad told him to go down to the store and get it in exchange for helping him at the restaurant to earn the bike. For two weeks Cakmis kept up his end of the bargain, but one day he told his dad he was too busy playing. That day turned into a couple of weeks, until one day when Cakmis woke to find that his bike was gone.
“I said ‘Dad, somebody stole my bike!’” Cakmis said. “But as I went to walk to school, my mom told me, ‘Nobody stole your bike. Your daddy gave it to the orphanage.’” Sure enough, on his way to school that day he saw a child from the orphanage riding his bike. “My dad didn’t give me another one, and every day as I walked to school I had to watch that son of a gun ride my bike. I never forgot that.”
Cakmis’ future plans call for a new restaurant off of Northwest 39th Avenue, but it won’t be another branch of the deli. The yet-unnamed establishment will be a little more upscale, serve three meals and will also have a small bar. Cakmis sees a niche that is missing in the area; affordable dining that’s still high in quality. “I want to do more of a family atmosphere there, where you can go out and eat good food two-to-three times a week and not spend a fortune. I take my family to restaurants these days and it’s $150 if we get dessert or if my wife and I have some wine. You can’t do that 2-3 times a week.” He hopes to have the restaurant open sometime in 2009.
In a world full of impersonal chain restaurants, the 43rd Street Deli is a haven of personality. The regulars who come in almost every day of the week enjoy not only good food but familiar faces in Cakmis and his family. His wife, Terri, works alongside him as do his daughters, Allee and Grace (he also has a son, Nick). Many of his employees have also been with him for years, including 23-year veteran Doug Conkey.
In today’s economy when everyone is cutting costs, keeping patrons coming back is no small feat. Cakmis credits the loyalty of his customers to one simple concept – giving people their money’s worth. “You go to some restaurants and you get a little piece of steak with a fru-fru coming out of it and then you’re ready to pull up to In and Out to get a couple of hamburgers on your way home. That’s not me. I want a decent meal. I want my money’s worth, and that’s hard to do right now. I try to give good food and value, good service… that’s tough to compete with. That’s what I try to do.”
43rd Street Deli 4401 N.W. 25th Place | (352) 373-2927 1505 N.W. 13th St. | (352) 373-3354 3483 S.W. Williston Road | (352) 373-5656 Locals serving locals for 25 years.
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