If you believe in destiny, you would have to believe that someone named Jerry DelliGati was born to run a sandwich shop. For the 11 years he was a bartender at Schooners Sports Bar on the Northeast Side, he regularly cooked and served lavish food spreads that featured meatloaf, sausage and pasta dishes for patrons on NFL Sundays and for other events.

During that time, his goal was to open his own restaurant, so he saved his money and four years ago opened DelliGati’s Sandwich Shop near the intersection of Wetmore Road and Thousand Oaks. “Opening this restaurant is something that I have always wanted to do,” DelliGati said. “I knew that when I was ready to commit to it, I was going to put everything I had into it.”