Lou and Betsy are What Make This Country Great: How Long Can They Last?

Philadelphia is a city of food carts. They are on every street, of all different variations of cuisine from all over the world.

For over ten years, I have been getting my breakfast sandwich (ham, egg and cheese on a roll, large coffee/2 creams 1 sugar) at Lou’s Breakfast and Lunch at 16th and JFK Blvd. I don’t need to say a word as I approach the cart around 7:30 each morning; it’s already sizzling. I feel lost without my morning breakfast.

Lou and Betsy are there every day, no matter what the weather. They get up around 3 AM and get everything ready to make the drive into Philly from their home in Jersey. They are there in snowstorms, heat waves, sleet, and hurricanes. It is all about being dependable, because people in Philly are very particular about their sandwiches and Lou and Betsy know that they can’t be disappointed.

They tried to pass the business off a few years ago on some relatives while Lou tried a restaurant venture, but it didn’t work out. Their replacements just couldn’t cut the hours and the work, and apparently the hired help at the restaurant didn’t have Lou’s work ethic either. I’m glad they are back. They are a comforting part of my life.

Tomorrow afternoon, Lou and Betsy are going back to Greece to visit Lou’s father whom he hasn’t seen in a number of years. All of their customers, including me, are wondering what the heck we are going to do without our breakfast. Lou told me I should work from home so I won’t have to be too traumatized.

They’ll be back the day after Labor Day. I hope I can survive.

Lou and Betsy are the epitome of what makes this country great. They are hard-working people, take little nonsense, and know how to make a customer happy and keep them coming back for more. From what I can tell they are quite successful. It’s their own blood, sweat, and tears that make their business happen.

Lou once apoligized to me for having to raise the price of a sandwich by a nickel. It was the price of cheese that went up. He also stopped carrying doughnuts because there was no profit in them. While I used to have the urge for a doughnut now and then, I never stopped going to Lou's for my breakfast. I'm probably better off for it anyway.

Lou sometimes gets impatient with Betsy (his wife) when she doesn't move fast enough for him. I think he is cursing at her in Greek, but I'm not sure. He also has the uncanny ability at lunchtime to be able to take orders from ten people in line and remember them all. You have to take all of the orders so the people will stay and wait for their lunch; if you don't take the order they will move on. That's smart business.

Even though I admire Lou and Betsy, I am also reminded that this kind of entrepreneurship is not unusual. Many people do it (until they are regulated into oblivion). Lou often bemoans some of the idiotic cart regulations that the city imposes. He deals with the best he can. For example, the city came out with a new rule that cart vendors had to wear plastic gloves. That is so ridiculous! I have never heard of even one instance where anyone was harmed by cart food. It’s just another way to annoy the business owner and give patrons a false sense of security.

Lou and Betsy hang in there, dealing with the city bullshit through sheer determination.

I wonder how long they will put up with it until they decide to hang it up and relax back in Jersey. The way things are going, it may be soon. Lou and Betsy are examples of what makes this country great. Mess with them too much, and we will slide into the mediocrity of a paternalistic society that doesn’t recognize the value of Lou and Betsy.

I hope I am not alive to see that happen. I would sure miss my sandwich.