“If you don’t treat the customer like your friend, you’re not going to be able to stay,” says Jay. Jay moved from India to America in search of education, a master's in physics specifically, but was never able to afford the costs of school. Jay first lived in Philadelphia, working as the chef behind the counter at a deli in an effort to make some money. He moved around a number of different sandwich shops and delis on the East Coast before ultimately taking over Apple Gourmet, located on the corner of Atlantic Avenue and Bond Street in Brooklyn, New York, in 2016. The location had been recommended to him by some of his friends in the business after they had heard that the previous Korean owners were retiring. Jay decided to take over Apple Gourmet and has now been operating it as a 24/7 Deli for the last seven years.

Every day, Jay and his co-workers cut their own fresh fruit and toss fresh salads, one of the things that makes Apple Gourmet stand out as a deli. The local Boerum Hill community is very important to Jay; he sees his customers not as just shoppers in his business, but as his own friends and family. Jay tries to build a relationship with every single one of his customers; it is one of the most important parts of his business to him. Jay gets to know everybody that comes into his store. Instead of just saying “Hi, how are you?” he makes an effort to strike up real conversations with the customers, and he has noticed that this friendliness makes them come back. Jay also encourages his customers to give him feedback. If the community doesn’t like a specific product or the way Jay is doing something, he wants to know and will try his best to change it.

Jay has also learned that quality products make more money, and to never buy the cheap product. Jay gave me the example of an avocado: Jay sells his avocados for two dollars each. At Trader Joe's they’re one dollar each, cheaper in appearance, but in actuality, Trader Joe's sells one bad avocado and one that is too small, whereas Jay’s avocados are ripe and big every time.

Jay has built his own community in Boerum Hill through these strategies and reaped both the social and economic benefits that it brings. Unfortunately, since COVID many deli businesses have been struggling. To overcome this, Jay has been doing thorough calculations on every single item and doing careful markups, in order to keep the business affordable whilst not running it into the ground. Notwithstanding his careful calculations, Jay says that the future is still uncertain and he’s worried that Apple Gourmet might not survive 10 more years. Still, Jay remains positive and greets every customer with a smile.