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When Daniel Shyken analyzed two weeks of ticket prices from his Jemison restaurant, he noticed 80 percent of his customers wanted sandwiches.

“I sat down with my stepfather and we started noticing a sandwich trend,” Shyken said. “So, we thought it would be a good idea for the restaurant to evolve into something the people wanted.”

Formerly The Rose Café, Shyken’s restaurant is now called The Sandwich Depot and is located in the same building next to the Piggly Wiggly grocery store in Jemison.

Shyken said new additions to the menu include a variety of sandwiches ranging from turkey, roast beef, French dips, patty melts, ham, and chicken wraps to fried bologna sandwiches.

“We took some of the popular dishes we used to serve when we were the Rose Café and put some bread on them,” Shyken said. “Everyone loved our meatloaf so we decided to make it a meatloaf sandwich or the country fried steak people enjoyed is now a country fried sandwich.”

Shyken took ownership of the café in November 2011 after he worked as head chef for former owner Dorris Conner who owned The Magnolia Rose Café.

Shyken said his original intent for the restaurant was to serve “fine dining” at reasonable prices but after he analyzed what people were purchasing, he realized he needed to change everything around.

“June 12 was our first day as the sandwich shop and everything went really well,” Shyken said. “I think this concept is what everyone wanted to see and we were happy to make that happen.”

Shyken said he recently purchased a milkshake machine and will add milkshakes and malts to the menu in the next couple of weeks.

Other items included on the new menu include hot dogs, taco salad, and shrimp and oyster po’ boys.

“We are excited about the change and we hope people come out and try the new things we have added to the menu,” Shyken said.

The Sandwich Shop is open Monday-Saturday from 11 a.m.- 8 p.m. and closed on Sundays.

For more information about The Sandwich Shop, call (205) 688-2113.