Popular sandwich shop owner says it is ‘surreal’ to celebrate two years of creating a space people love to visit
The owner of a popular sandwich shop says it is “surreal” to celebrate two years open in Northampton, having created a space that people love to visit and constantly compliment.
Spread opened in Adnitt Road, Abington in January 2023, less than three years after grazing tables and boxes kickstarted the business for Amy Adams.
The venture began when Amy created a grazing table for her daughter’s third birthday in May 2019, which saw a variety of foods placed decoratively on the table for guests to enjoy – and this sparked her passion to become more creative with catering.
Many of the guests asked Amy who she hired to create the grazing table and she then started to produce them for friends and family as a hobby during her maternity leave.
As the hobby gained momentum and the time came for Amy to return to her job part-time in September 2019, she never returned and took Spread on full time.
Talking about the two year anniversary of opening her first store in Abington, Amy told the Chronicle & Echo: “It is so surreal. Spread is everything we ever wanted it to be and it keeps evolving with time.
“Our main values are community and people, and we feel like we have achieved that. We’ve created a nice space that people enjoy visiting. They compliment us and tell us they feel better after they’ve visited.”
A particular highlight for Amy in 2024 was National Sandwich Day, when Spread gave away 406 freebies in November. This was the second year of this annual kind gesture to thank customers for their support.
“We have such a good time and create a super positive feel,” said the founder, who continues to support fellow independents by welcoming different sweet treat businesses to sell from Spread each week.
The best sellers include Cookie Babes, Jeyda Cakes, Treatbox by Jess, Say Doughnuts, The Bake Plug, Els Bakes and newbie Mama’s Cookies.
When asked her favourite thing about being a business owner in Northampton, Amy said: “Being part of the community and creating something people look forward to. It’s so nice to be able to give a slice of happiness to everyone.
“It’s a difficult time to do anything at the moment, as a business or as a customer. There are super expensive daily costs and it’s not easy to run a business.”
It is the value for money and big portion sizes that keep customers coming back for more, as well as the welcoming atmosphere created by the three businesses in the building – Spread, Hample Hampers and Nova Aesthetics.
Spread’s staple menu is available from 9am until 2pm every Wednesday to Saturday, which includes the classic and veggie spread flats, pastrami gherkin, chicken pesto, tuna, and cheese flavours. These chunky triangle shaped sandwiches are particularly popular.
The menu also includes a special of the month, which is chosen via a social media competition, and a ‘Hample special’ which incorporates different Italian meats.
The team is also introducing a seasonal veggie sandwich every month, which will be based around a different in-season fruit or vegetable. January’s is centred on Brussels sprouts.
Amy hopes to locally source all of the fruits and vegetables by working alongside other independent businesses in the town.