Complete sell-out in less than three hours for Northampton sandwich shop on freebie Friday

It was a complete sell-out of almost 300 sandwiches in less than three hours, for a Northampton sandwich shop offering freebies last Friday (November 3).

Spread has proved popular across the town since it opened in Adnitt Road, Abington at the start of the year.

The kind gesture to giveaway free sandwiches marked National Sandwich Day and gave back to customers for their support during the first 10 months open.

The shop hoped to stay open from 9am until 2pm last Friday, and Amy’s initial plan was to give away around 250 sandwiches until they sold out.

The business owner shared that the team made a total of 293 sandwiches to give away, which they started the evening before and came in first thing on Friday morning to finish.

“The queue started forming at 8.40am,” said Amy. “All of a sudden there were around 100 people by the time we opened.”

A team of four took on the day ahead and by 11.30am, the hundreds of sandwiches had all been given away.

Amy said: “I was so shocked. I thought there would be a bit of a queue, but it’d feed through and top up. But they were there and ready. Some people waited 45 minutes to an hour.

“I didn’t imagine that many people would show up. It’s the fear of the unknown.”

Amy says it is “so amazing” that everyone got behind the concept and came along to show their support.

“All I really wanted to do was give something back and show our appreciation,” Amy added. “I’m so grateful everyone was so happy and in such high spirits. They were buzzing to have something going on in Northampton.”

Each week Spread welcomes a different guest baker into the shop to sell their sweet treats – and C Brownies joined Amy and the team on Friday with their loaded croissants, cookie doughnuts, and brownies.

Amy hoped that in return for the free sandwiches, visitors would share photos to their social media platforms.

After a whirlwind of a day, Spread had been tagged in 95 posts on Instagram – and that was just the people with public profiles.

“It was an overwhelming response,” said Amy, who was also pleased that those who missed out on the free sandwiches stayed to buy a coffee and still offered to share Spread on their social media profiles.

The business owner is already looking forward to National Sandwich Day next year.

Reflecting on last Friday, Amy said: “We had the best day. We got up at 4.30am and had a blast the whole time.

“I find such joy in feeding people nourishing and good quality food. I felt really grateful to be able to do something like this. If only everyday was like this.”

Spread opened its first store less than three years after grazing tables and boxes kickstarted the business for Amy.

The venture has continued to go from strength to strength and is approaching 19,000 followers on Instagram.

You can visit Spread’s Instagram page to keep up to date here.