Breakfast at a Local Hardware Store!

Laurie and I had read several comments about a deli in a local hardware store located in Loudon Tennessee that served breakfast and lunch.  On one recent morning, we decided that it was time to check out their breakfast offerings…

This is Sloan’s Village Home Center at TN Hwy. 72 and Hwy. 444 in Loudon Tennessee.  This store sells hardware, lumber/building supplies, has a big lawn and garden operation, a Bass Pro outlet and…their ‘deli’ serves breakfast and lunch! (Note: Laurie and I have learned that any place that makes sandwiches in East Tennessee is called or can be called a ‘deli’.  They are nothing like the true delis that one finds in major metro centers around the USA…

Sloan’s Village Home Center is one of 3 locations that comprise a long-term family owned business.  Other locations can be found in along US Hwy. 411 in Vonore and Madisonville Tennessee.  The store in Vonore has a full service grocery store and all three locations operate either ‘delis’ or a restaurant.  For more information on this family enterprise, you can go to http://sloansstore.com/index.html?win=lo.  

Appropriately, the Deli has its own entrance along the side of the building.  It’s the same entrance used by many of the local contractors who purchase their building materials from Sloan’s.  Contractors, lawn service companies and local utility workers, as well as many residents from adjacent Tellico Village provide Sloan’s Deli with lots of business…

Laurie and I can assure you that East Tennessee is a great place to live!  No income taxes, low property taxes, moderate weather, beautiful scenery, reasonable housing costs, etc., all combine for comfortable living.  Tellico Village is just one residential/retirement option in East Tennessee but it is the largest of them all.  To learn more, go to http://tellicovillage.org/.

The main dining area of Sloan’s Deli can best be described as country cozy… There is the rack of snacks, buckets with condiments, a coffee bar on the right hand side, a bit of country décor, a bulletin board with all sorts of messages and business cards plus a miss-mash of seating options and tables.  There is an 'overflow' dining area set up around the corner in the warehouse... 

While there are printed paper versions, this chalkboard displaying breakfast offerings gives you an idea of the deli’s menu.  One positive is that you can easily mix and match items to come up with the breakfast of your choice.  

FYI…Family Pack Specials are offered as is a Boater’s Special. (Tellico Lake is within 200 or 300 yards of the store) The Boater’s Special includes a cooler, 10 lbs. of ice, 6 cans of soda, 16 oz. of potato salad, 16 oz. of coleslaw, and your choice of 4 cold sandwiches, 4 BBQ sandwiches or 4 burgers.  The price ranges from $21.99 for the cold sandwiches up to $29.99 for the burgers.

Here’s another view from inside the dining room at Sloan’s Village Home Center…and deli.  The lumber sign and power tools are part of the ambience.  You place your order at the window at the left of this photo and you’re either called up to pick up your food, or it’s delivered to your table. 

Laurie ‘assembled’ her breakfast from what is really an a la carte menu.  It consisted of 2 eggs over-easy, a nice little stack of bacon, 2 slices of toast and 2 hash brown ‘wedges’.  The bacon was very nice and she enjoyed her breakfast…

The lunch menu is fairly standard and just what one might expect.  Burgers, hot dogs, bologna and cheese, BLT, Philly Steak, BBQ, etc.  It would be hard to go broke here!  A club sandwich, an order of French fries and a small (16 oz.) beverage would set you back $7.27 plus tip and taxes…

I ordered 2 easy-over eggs, rye toast, 2 sausage patties and the ‘hash browns’.  I am not a huge fan of hash brown ‘wedges’…and I wouldn’t order them again.  It’s a personal preference and many people really like breakfast potatoes like these.  The sausage was fine and the eggs were fried correctly.  I must say that this was the best meal I’ve ever had at a hardware store!

There were some specials posted and perhaps that’s how our meal was priced when we checked out.  According to my calculations, (after I revisited the menu at home), breakfast with coffee should have cost $4.99 for Laurie and $5.99 for me. (Very reasonable indeed!) They don’t give you a bill at the Deli…you just walk up to the registers at the front of the store and tell them what you had… I told the cashier exactly what we had and I think that she ended up just ringing up the toast and egg specials for both of us…at $3.69 each!  Maybe our a la carte listing was too much effort to calculate. 

We’ll have to go back and try lunch at Sloan’s Deli…and I’d like to see what their biscuits and gravy are like.  I know that their biscuits are pretty good because when I’ve stopped by for minnows to go fishing, as I checked out, I’ve grabbed a Sausage, Egg and Cheese Biscuit, ($2.49), from the front register ‘warming station’...and it was good.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by and sharing breakfast with us!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave