Employees wait to greet hungry customers at the Earl of Sandwich opening of their first shop in New York, located in Midtown, on Friday, September 2, 2011. The restaurant chain, named after John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich who devised the idea of putting meat between bread in 1762, is Orlando, FL based and has shops across the country and in London and Paris. RICHARD B. LEVINE/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: lrphotos064067
By Frances Roberts and Richard Levine
Apparently, we had another British Invasion last week, only this time instead of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Dave Clark Five they brought sandwiches. The Earl of Sandwich opened its first New York store (they already have a bunch of stores in the USA) with the 11th Earl of Montagu himself (the 4th was the guy who thought of putting meat between two slices of bread). That got us thinking about what other insidious fast food concepts have slipped stealthily (and not so stealthily) across the pond to conquer our palates.
The first branch of the Pret A Manger sandwich chain in Midtown Manhattan on uly 25, 2001. The founders, Sinclair Beecham and Julian Metcalfe, are selling the casual dining lunch establishment to Bridgepoint Capital, a London based buyout firm for $678 million. Founded in 1986 in London, the company has 200 stores in London, New York, Hong Kong and Singapore. They plan to open 30 new ones including seven more in NYC. McDonalds Corp., which had a 33 percent stake in the company is also selling. Pret A manger means "ready to eat" in French. FRANCES M. ROBERTS/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: lrphotos035645
Prêt a Manger arrived here in 2001 as the first wave. They already had conquered London, and they’re British, not French, despite their name! They’ve been opening up shops at a steady pace here and at one time McDonald’s had a third of the company.
A branch of the Belgian bakery chain, Le Pain Quotidien opens in the Mineral Springs area of Central Park on Wednesday, June 9, 2010. The purveyor of baked goods was chosen to operate the concession stand at Mineral Springs replacing a snack bar that had previously operated there. Founded in Brussels in 1990 Le Pain Quotidien is known for its handmade bread, coffee, salads, and pastries using many organic ingredients. A concession has operated at the site for more than 130 years. RICHARD B. LEVINE/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: lrphotos054366
The Belgian chain Le Pain Quotidien has been around since 1990 and last year opened up a shop in Central Park, in the Mineral Springs area where the Dept. of Parks has operated a concession for 130 years. We always thought that parks concessions were a fairly recent idea, boy were we wrong. They compete in the city with their arch rival Au Bon Pain, which isn’t French.. or Belgian.. they’re from Boston!
Employees of Haagen-Dazs ice cream stock a freezer in a Gristedes supermarket in New York on Thursday, May 13, 2010 during the ice cream brand's 50th anniversary celebration. Started by Reuben and Rose Mattus in 1960 the company is one of the first brands to create the market for premium ice cream. Haagen-Dazs was sold to The Pillsbury Company in 1983 which took the brand worldwide. RICHARD B. LEVINE/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: lrphotos062711
Finally, what many thought was another invasion from Europe in 1960 was actually an invasion from the Bronx. Haagen-Dazs ice cream, despite its faux Danish name (which means absolutely nothing) was created by Reuben and Rose Mattus in the Bronx in New York and pretty much single-handedly started the premium ice cream market.
Richard Levine and Frances Roberts, of Levine Roberts Photography, are a husband and wife team of photographers covering politics, environmental issues, the economy, and business and social and cultural issues in The Big Apple. See more photos from their collection on Newscom.
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Tags: earl of sandwich, haagen dazs, le pain quotidien, levine roberts photography, new york, pret a manger