Popular Port Royal sandwich shop has new owners. Here’s why sale was initially a secret

It’s 10:45 Friday morning at a gas station turned sandwich shop on Ribaut Road Port Royal — 15 minutes after the doors open and spaces in the parking lot are nearly gone. Hungry customers are standing three deep at the counter in a building with tight quarters and a handful of tables.

It’s just another Friday at Alvin Ord’s Sandwich Shop.

Ronette Grant, who has worked here 33 years, calmly takes orders amid the growing rush. “Cash or card,” she says. Behind her, Eriko Ruelas, on the job for 16 years, slathers bread and piles on meat and cheese before sending the sandwiches through an oven that turns them out moments later to be wrapped in white paper.

A number is called out and another happy customer releases his space to the next customer at the door.

“It’s no frills,” Nick Borreggine says. “You are not going to be waited on.”

Marie and Tom Lewis sold the 40-year-old sandwich shop in Port Royal — known for its one-of-a-kind bread, long-time employees and penchant for helping out the community — to Borreggine Jr. and his father, Nick Borreggine Sr.

But Borreggine emphasizes that he wouldn’t dare change a thing at the landmark lunch favorite along the town’s busiest road.

Operating in a shoebox-sized building that once was a gas station, Alvin Ord’s has a big reputation for its hot sandwiches on french or whole wheat bread baked daily, on site, at 3 a.m.

Its most popular sandwich might be “The Salvation”, dubbed “the true original,” featuring three cheeses toasted into a fresh bun and stuffed with ham, salami and spiced luncheon meat and topped with lettuce, tomato onions and mustard.

Alvin Ord’s in Port Royal is a true original

Marie and Tom Lewis launched the shop 40 years ago on West Street in Beaufort before outgrowing that location and moving to Port Royal 36 years ago. Today, iIt’s a fixture along busy Ribaut Road, with a wavy American flag and “God Bless America” painted on the front window greeting thousands of passing motorists that pass it daily.

The Borreggine family owns two other Port Royal restaurants — Shellring Ale Works overlooking Battery Creek and Fat Patties on Parris Island Gateway.

The purchase of Alvin Ord’s actually closed in June. But it was a secret until Alvin Ord’s alerted customers in a Facebook post Wednesday that Tom and Marie were retiring. “The torch has been passed” to the Borreggine family, it said.

The delay in making the ownership change public was calculated, Borreggine told the Beaufort Gazette and Island Packet Thursday. Fearful that customers would think the new guy would take over and make changes to the beloved sammy shop, the Borreginnes kept the news quiet and continued to run the operation as usual, with the same veteran employees continuing to make the same sandwiches. The intent was to prove that nobody would notice a difference, even with the new ownership

“Same ladies are still making the bread and sandwiches,” Borreginne said.

In fact, when Tom and Nick were discussing the deal, Tom brought up the one issue that would have been a deal breaker. If Nick was not willing to keep the long-serving familiar faces in the restaurant, Tom Lewis said, there would be no deal. If those employees were not interested in working at Alvin Ord’s after the sale, Nick countered, he wasn’t interested anyway.

140+ years of experience goes into every sandwich ordered

The handful of ladies working lunches everyday are the sandwich shop’s remarkably loyal employees, led by Grant — the 33-year vet. Mollie Heyward has been on the job for 30 years. Lisa Oliver (23 years) and Kasandra Drew (20 years) came along a few years later. Rounding out the legendary seniority list are newcomers Ruelas (16 years) and Mary Townsend (15 years).

“They are awesome people,” Borreggine said.

Grant, who is 56, was in her early 20s when she started working at Alvin Ord’s. She recalls Tom and Marie taking one of her children home with them so she could continue to work. To her, they were like grandparents.

“That’s where your loyalty is,” says Grant, who lives in Burton, “when you have people like that.”

The employees are like family, adds Grant, who has no plans to leave.

“The work environment is really awesome,” Grant says.

Marie Lewis isn’t going anywhere either. She continues to work at Alvin Ord’s, greeting customers who are ordering or picking up, as she’s done for decades.

Recently, the Zonta Club of Beaufort, a service organization of business executives, awarded Marie Lewis its vaunted Leadership Award for her role in paving the way for other local women business owners.

“Their store is a favorite ‘taste of home’ for so many of us,” the group said in announcing the award. “There is no telling how many members of the military and their families have been treated to this taste of home by Marie and Tom.”

The Lewises were known for making sandwiches and delivering them to marines stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort. “They are both very service oriented and they are both very giving to the military,” said Amber Hewitt, a Zonta Club spokesperson.

In early 2020, during unexpected back surgery, Marie was diagnosed with multiple myeloma and went through cancer treatment for the remainder of that year. Never one to back down from a challenge, she continued to work through chemotherapy and the Covid-19 scare. Prayers have been answered, she is in remission.

A sandwich list for everyone

Besides the popular Salvation, the menu at Alvin Ord’s includes a variety of sandwiches, from meatball to roast beef to a turkey club to a Beaufort Philly, and they come in three sizes, with the “large” enough food to feed four people.

Along with its history and the staying power of the Lewises and the loyal employees, Nick Borreggine thinks it’s probably the bread that makes Alvin Orde’s stand out. A cross between a quick bread and dough bread, “it’s yeasty but it’s got the soft pliability,” he says. And when the bread and the meat and the cheese are toasted, you’ve got a great sandwich.

A kid in need and a kind man

Borreggine moved to the area in 2000 from Pennsylvania. He was 26, inexperienced when he opened a restaurant in Beaufort just three days before Sept. 11, 2001. As the world and Bluffton recoiled from the unprecedented tragedy, Borreggine realized that catering would be the only way to survive.

But he quickly realized he did not have equipment or staff to survive.

Steve Brown, a local caterer, and Tom Lewis of Alvin Ord’s came to his rescue, providing him with the staff and equipment. Catering kept Borreggine afloat through the term of his lease and eventually he moved on to the next opportunity but he never forgot the pair’s generosity. The prescient Borreggine asked Lewis to call him when he was ready to retire From Alvin Orde’s.

The call came a year-and-a-half ago and the timing couldn’t have been worse. When the phone rang, Borreggine was busy opening up the new Shellring Ale Works. The discussion would have to wait

But the waiting is now over.

Borreggine says he respects the Lewises business model, which includes giving back to the community. He saw that approach first-hand when the Lewises helped him during his struggles all those years ago.

“A new guy who had just moved here from Pennsylvania and he rolls the red carpet out and helps me survive,” Borreggine said. “He did that for everybody. And we have a pretty give-back culture between Fat Patties and Shellring. It just fits in with our business model.”