Yogurt, Creams & Things opened as The Sandwich Shop in 1973 in the lobby of the old IBM building (now the Suddath building). After moving the shop to the Gulf Life Tower (now Riverplace Tower) in 1988, Fred Batteh, the deli’s founder, assumed the role of honorary chairman and leaves the day-to-day operations to his two sons, Sam and Rick.
WHAT DO
YOU MEAN BY “THINGS”
“We’ve got everything.”
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN JACKSONVILLE?
“I moved here in 1948 and immediately joined the Army.”
THEN WHAT?
“My father, brother and I opened a grocery store in Oceanway. We ran it for 18 years then sold it.”
THERE ARE A LOT OF BATTEH’S IN JACKSONVILLE.
“One T or two Ts, either way — same family.”
WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO RUN A DELI IN JACKSONVILLE IN THE 1970S?
“Let’s just say this: Prudential Insurance used to give their employees coupons for free lunch in the company cafeteria, but they would come to me anyway. Of course, I was the only shop in the neighborhood. So we were always busy.”
WHAT COMPANIES GAVE YOU BUSINESS BACK THEN?
“The old Prudential building, IBM and the Gulf Life building.”
WERE YOU ALWAYS DOWN HERE ON THE LOWER
LEVEL NEXT TO THE JEWELRY STORE?
“No. When we first moved into this building we were upstairs by the elevators. We were small and mostly just did takeout. When the bank [SouthTrust] took over in 1995, they wanted to use that space for their safe deposit box, so they moved us downstairs but doubled our size to make it up to us.”
HAVE YOU ADDED ANYTHING NEW TO THE MENU OVER THE YEARS?
“Now we have wraps.”
IT SEEMS LIKE YOU STILL KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON AROUND HERE. ARE YOU SURE YOU DON’T RUN THE SHOW?
“Well, I don’t get paid. I work for nothing.”
DO YOUR SONS HAVE ANY TECHNICAL EXPERIENCE RUNNING A RESTAURANT?
“My son Sam went to the University of Florida and majored in finance but he came back home with five credit card bills. I think they taught him how to spend money.”
WHERE DOES MOST OF YOUR BUSINESS COME FROM THESE DAYS?
“Ninety-five percent comes from SouthTrust, but people walk over from Suddath, Prudential and other buildings on the Southbank.”
DO YOU DO ANY CATERING?
“A little.”
WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE WORK IN THIS BUILDING?
“You know Jacksonville — a lot of lawyers. We have insurance brokers and stock brokers, too. There are 200 lawyers in this building.”
ANYONE ELSE WORK
HERE BESIDES YOU
AND YOUR SONS?
“Joyce Addison has worked here 23 years. My grandson, Brock, works here in the summers.”
YOU’VE GOT PEANUT BUTTER & JELLY ON PITA BREAD
“Peanut butter is not platonic. It can go with anything. We also have great steak in a sack.”
— by Sean McManus