Member Spotlight: Packed

The humble sandwich is a British tradition that has nestled fondly in our hearts for years. While respecting the tradition, Packed have pooled together the best of Italian American influence to create an uncompromising meaty feat – that is best dunked in gravy. Another delicacy in the hearts of Brits, yet seldom have these two worlds collided.

We spoke to owner Will to find out more about the venture:

How did you get into independent hospitality?

I used to be in the Navy as a submariner, after that I did about eight years in engineering management in various process and testing facilities. Then my wife and I, we went off travelling for 13 months in which we covered 28 countries. Most of the trip I was thinking of what kind of business I could do. Our trip was basically a culinary tour. We realised that it’s probably best if I did something food based and the street food scene is massive, and it’s growing.

To me it all felt really exciting and the low barrier to entry was definitely a factor. And we had this great idea for doing Chicago Italian style sandwiches. We thought, well, let’s take a chance. We bought the trailer within a week of coming back. And then applied for every festival and event that we could and it’s just taken off from there really.

Why the Chicago Italian sandwiches. What about those really appeal to you?

They are genuinely phenomenal sandwiches! Once you have one it just changes your perception on what a sandwich can be. They are gloriously messy. We actually saw it years ago, on Man vs Food. They were exploring gravy dunk sandwiches across the US which inspired us, so we tried some for ourselves when we were out on the West Coast of America. By the time we’d decided this was what we were going to do, we were already in Mexico so couldn’t really go back to Chicago. We worked on the idea a lot.

Actually the first sandwich we made was produced in a backpacking hostel in Guatemala – we cooked for all the hostel students and knew we were onto something then. We kept experimenting and researching it and found no one in the UK was really doing this so it seemed a perfect niche product for us to bring to the market. And with the TV series ‘The Bear’ starring the sandwich it seemed like the perfect time.

What sort of reaction do you get when trading?

The experience of having a sandwich dunked in gravy really does excite people. We see it all the time where people are trying to figure us out when we’re at an event. As a nation we love gravy and we love sandwiches, but still some people can be unsure about dunking their sandwich. But I can normally talk them into seeing the light and going for a dunk one way or another. The gravy we use is entirely homemade, there’s no manufactured stock involved, and we’ve been particular about opting for a bread that stays together, so it can handle being dunked and absorb all the flavour.

How messy is it to eat then? Especially if one’s being properly dunked?

I have to be careful with this answer because it isn’t that bad – It genuinely isn’t as messy as you think it would be, but at the same time it’s served quick and hot and the best way to eat it is to literally devour it. We have had people get gravy on their trousers, in their shoe, in their socks, but we do give out a lot of free napkins, so we are kind of balancing things out! With the way we wrap the sandwiches, a lot of people ask for it to be cut in half so they can share it and eat it like a burrito.

So we make it as easy as we can for people, but our advice is always to jump straight in and go for a full dunk.

What has your approach to events been so far?

We had a plan to test the water in 2024 and go to as many different locations as possible to work out what we’re doing and what works. And that’s exactly what we did. We’ve been to festivals, food festivals, beer festivals, done pub takeovers, kitchen takeovers – we’ve tried all sorts. And it’s been a real fun six months, but also quite an eye opening period in which we’ve learnt a lot. For year 2, the plan is to go big: This sandwich is really suited for a large crowds at festivals or stadiums.

We can upscale relatively easily and serve fast. So my goal is bigger events. We’ve already got one large festival booked in 2025 which is massive for us. But we’re aiming high. I’m knocking on the door of every concession company in the UK asking to be added to their books!

What do you think you’ve found most rewarding about running your own business?

I really enjoy the freedom of it; that I can work when I need work and want to work. The autonomy is great, if I want to change my signs and do something different, I can literally do it tomorrow. I get to test the market very quickly and change things, seeing what the customer prefers.

Being able to change all that without anyone’s oversight is nice, but at the same time, it’s also a lot of pressure, because then you’re always trying to think are you doing it as well as you can be? I like having my own business, but it’s hard work to do on my own, so I’m looking forward to growing my team next year.

We’ve got exciting ideas for the future, like how we would expand and how we would like to increase what we can offer people.

Talk us through the menu:

We have the classic, our traditional and authentic Italian beef sandwich, which is our key sandwich. We have a beef special which is the same sandwich but with a smoked paprika pork sausage which is a great combination. We’ve tried a lot of different types of sausages over the six months, trying to get the right sausage and we feel we’ve got the perfect ones now. We also do a mini version of the sandwich that’s been very popular. All our sandwiches come with our homemade giardiniera, a traditional Italian relish that is the perfect accompaniment to the beef. We get a lot of compliments about it.

We’ve been working on our vegan option too. And I think we’re there now. It’s taken a little while to get right as we’re trying to do a mushroom version of the Italian beef, whilst trying to stay away from overly processed ingredients. I’m really happy with what that sandwich is now and it goes down really well because it’s something really different. If you’re vegetarian or vegan and you go to a lot of food festivals, you can struggle sometimes and be faced with limited options so we wanted to address that and offer something more.

At the end of the day, we want to care for as many people as we can. We want to bring this gravy dunked experience to as many people as possible.

What is the plan for the future?

The next couple of years is about establishing ourselves as a quality food vendor that brings a unique experience to some of the best festivals in the country. We’d like to grow as quickly as we can. Our ideas for the future are big, we have high aspirations and we want to deliver a unique offering – more than just the sandwich, but we want to provide a visual spectacle. To be an amazing experience and really excite people.

What does success look like to you?

To have a really good, strong team of people that enjoy what they’re doing, bringing some happiness to festivalgoers at large events all summer. And if ‘Packed’ and the Italian beef sandwich becomes recognised across the country at the same time – that would be phenomenal!

Find out more about Packed and follow their journey here.