A Truly Original Sammie
I sat down with Stephanie Purdy-Hopko to talk to her about her and her husband Mike's fabulous sandwich, soup and salad shop and was excited to learn that she was the one who inspired her friend,
Shaun Peet, former Pro-Hockey Player, NASCAR Pit Crew Coach and Inspirational Speaker to come to Sarnia’s Imperial Theatre this Nov!
We started out talking about everything Red & Ko as I was eyeing up the soup special that I’d be taking home for dinner! The first question I asked her of course was, what made her sandwich shop different than any other. Steph said, “the main thing is, our menu & specials are all our crazy concoctions that we dream up in the middle of the night. We are always purposely trying to do things that are outside of the box. We take a classic whether it is a sandwich, soup or salad and we ‘Red & Ko’ it."
"Like our special today the Kentucky Hot Red is a riff on a classic called the Kentucky Hot Brown based out of Louisville. We take the essence or inspiration of something and then we put our spin on it! Or we create things based on seasonal availability like when peaches are at their peak of the season we’ll do our Peach Gobbler. Coming up we’ll celebrate apples," she said!
"We try to be fun and creative and make sammies that you can’t get anywhere else. Our condiments - we might have a turkey sandwich but we’ll put a spin on it with say a house garlic aioli or roasted red pepper bacon mayo. A part of the essence of our sandwiches are our condiments.”
The Pot Roast Sammie, The Pretzel Pleaser Sammie & The Mexi-Ko Sammie
Their customers love their core menu and they’ve learned that people come to have their own favourites and if they were to take them off the menu they’d have protests. “We learned quickly that people started ‘planting their flag’ on their favourites and that’s how the menu was established,” said Stephanie!
The number one bestseller is the turkey prosciutto panini - it’s done on a focaccia bun with turkey, prosciutto, provolone cheese, roasted red pepper and panini spread with their signature garlic and onion jam and a few other goodies! “Everything at Red & Ko is about sweet and salty, it’s kind of our jam! Our homemade rice krispy squares have Ruffles potato chips in them,” she said.
The Cween du Cochon, The Peach Gobbler and The MOE-Tadella
As for specials I was told that this week on the Friday of all Fridays, right before Thanksgiving their sandwich special will be the one and only, Gobble, Google It Up! It's a sandwich that has earned its place as a top pick and customer favourite! It is everything turkey dinner on a brioche bun! “And it’s dynamite - turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberries, all of it,” said Stephanie.
“You can see our weekly Thursday and Friday specials on Facebook.”
Their soups are amazing and I know from experience. Stephanie says she’ll have ideas pop into her head, she’ll just follow the creative process and an incredible soup is born. They wouldn’t even know what to call it. They don’t use recipes. They put all kinds of great ingredients together and before they know it, interesting conversations with clients surrounding what a soup concoction should be called ensues.
“We love to engage our customers. Many of our specials have been created by our regulars. We’ve done some fun collaborations and named the special after them. It’s about community and connections. There’s a connection with people over food. There’s a magic that happens and that’s why I love it,” Stephanie explained.
The Thursday, The Pazizi and The Kentucky Red Hot
“Point Edward is my home. This is where I am connected and where my people are,” she continued, “there is no other place I would want to be.” She had her eye on this specific location for a while and was excited when it finally became available.
Stephanie said she knew what was coming in that little pocket of Point Edward where they reside. She felt, that great little hub was going to flourish!. With the new Sarnia Produce, Point Brewery Co., Davy Jones and The Flakery Baker, she felt it would be a happening spot and would make the Village that much more special.
An Amazing Imperial Theatre Event
Stephanie and her husband Mike at Red & Ko are sponsors of an incredible charitable event coming to the Sarnia Imperial Theatre on Thursday November 16th at 7pm called ‘1 Good Shift’.
It is a culmination of inspirational stories told by former Pro-Hockey Player and now NASCAR Pit Crew Coach, Shaun Peet.
Stephanie has been long time friends with Shaun. They worked at hockey schools together out in BC and as a professional skating coach she also worked with Shaun when he was playing pro hockey which eventually led him to Nascar. He is originally from Nanaimo BC but now lives in Davidson North Carolina. “Shaun has been here a few times and in the summer of 2019, he came for a visit. Sarnia is such a hockey town, so my friends were very interested when he started telling some of his life stories," said Stephanie!
“He had a lot of crazy things happen throughout his career. I watch people’s reactions when he tells his stories as their eyes bug out of their heads and their chins drop. You watch people lean in as he tells his accounts of what has happened throughout his lifetime . The people listening can’t believe these things happened and they can’t believe them because of the successful person they now see sitting right in front of them!”
Meet Shaun Peet
It was shortly after that visit that Stephanie called Shaun and told him she couldn’t deny what she saw in watching the reactions that people had to his stories. She told him, “I think you need to share your stories because your message is so important.” She explained, “I would coach hockey and watch kids being so hard on themselves. I would find myself using Shaun as an anecdote. Shaun started playing hockey late in life. He wasn’t that naturally talented at all so everything he accomplished was from working hard, being coachable and having that good work ethic which doesn’t go unnoticed. As a coach I would pour my blood sweat and tears into a kid if they were willing to work. Shaun uses his message to show people that what you think is failure or adversity can end up being a gift in the long run. He has one story in particular of unbelievable devastation where he dodged a major bullet but he came back even stronger because of it.”
Luckily Stephanie’s talk with Shaun paid off and he came for his first speaking engagement which was rightly named ‘1 Good Shift’ on March 5, 2020. She said it originally came about when she and Shaun ended up in line with Glen Fenwick when the Tall Ships were in town. Stephanie introduced Shaun to Glen. She said, “Glen was fan boying so bad because he’s a car guy and a hockey coach and dad. Shaun was with one of his pit crew athletes and Glen was like - wow these are Nascar guys!” Needless to say Glen became a sponsor and between the two of them from talking to everyone they knew, ended up putting 400 people in theatre seats!
This time sponsors Red & Ko and SLBDC
want to sell it out!
“He has a natural charisma! He is just so kind, so humble, so real and so engaging. I don’t necessarily want to call him a motivational speaker. He’s just so inspirational. It’s hard to explain how you’ll feel watching Shaun speak and what you’ll get out of it,” Stephanie emphasized!
In the hopes of getting them off the ground and running, the proceeds will go to the new Weir Active Centre located downtown on Lochiel St. in the old Manley’s building across from the new Sarnia-Lambton Youth Wellness Hub. It is the perfect organization to give to because it ties in with Shaun’s messaging. Steph said, “We are doing what we can to promote its success.”
Stephanie reflected on her own life,
“Within my own business I constantly see standouts for me in Shaun’s stories. His main message is that ‘Thoughts are things’. I am a very positive person and have a happy, positive persona but there is a lot of noise that goes on in my head that I don’t necessarily share. It's about realizing just how powerful thoughts can be and remaining mindful and aware of that! I have heard Shaun talk about his stories a number of times now and it still makes me stop and think. Shaun is just an inspiring guy in general to be around. I’m just so grateful to have him in my friend circle. I remember when he was Ricky Bobby’s jackman in Talladega Nights. Right after he was done shooting he gave me a call to tell me about it. I just know the impact he has had on my life and I know just how important it is for him to tell his story to everyone!"
For tickets to see Shaun Peet’s 1 Good Shift
at the Sarnia Imperial Theatre on November 16th
Go to ImperialTheatre.net
And don’t forget to get your Truly Original Sammie at Red & Ko!
soup, salad & sandwich specials!
We can’t wait to Feed You!!!
520 Louisa St, Point Edward, ON
Open:
Thursday 11am-4pm
Friday 11am - 4pm
Saturday 10am - 4pm