The “Dad’s Mustard” sandwich at Delirama in Berkeley, Calif. The owner of the popular deli announced a major change on Jan. 22.
Nico Madrigal-Yankowski/SFGATE
On Monday, Cash Caris, who co-owns Delirama with partner Anahita Cann, shared an emotional message in an Instagram story indicating bouts of challenges since the restaurant opened in 2022. Beginning this weekend, Delirama as we know it will change and stop selling sandwiches. The “Delirama concept is over,” Caris confirmed to SFGATE via text.
“We will think of a different concept,” Caris told SFGATE. “Pastrami will still be around for a while until we transition.”
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Instead of pastrami sandwiches, which had been a huge draw to devoted customers, Caris said that the restaurant will continue to sell pastrami by the pound and fresh sliced rye bread until the business switch occurs, according to an updated Instagram post on Tuesday. Customers can also find sides of chips, coleslaw, pickles, mustard, horseradish, mayo and sauerkraut in the meantime, per the Instagram story.
The change at Delirama comes after a particularly turbulent 2023. Last March, the Bay Area was slammed with back-to-back rainstorms and high winds that spread across the region. Power outages followed, which kept the lights out at Delirama for four days and had a catastrophic financial toll on the deli. In the aftermath, Delirama estimated that it lost 2,000 pounds of pastrami and other perishables, and about $100,000 worth of revenue, according to its GoFundMe page. KGO-TV reports that the deli nearly went bankrupt following the losses.
“This blow costed us 100k in revenue and broke our hearts into pieces but no matter what we got hit with, we put the deli first,” Caris said in the Instagram story.
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Known for its quality pastrami made by using an hourslong process, Delirama first opened in August 2022 after emerging from East Bay pop-up Pyro’s Pastrami. While the deli gained high praise from every corner of the Bay Area, Caris told SFGATE that pastrami won’t be the focus of the menu moving forward.
“The reason is that if we have pastrami on the menu, folks won’t buy anything else,” Caris said. “Needs to be something new and fresh so I’ll be looking for inspiration outside of the current concept.”