A popular Bay Area deli is closing after 45 years

It’s the end of an era.

A Bay area deli that has served its community for decades is closing its after 45 years.

Lutticken’s Deli and After 5 restaurant in Menlo Park will close on September 30, the deli’s general manager Judy Congdon confirmed to Mercury News.

“Everything’s going to be shut down September 30,” Congdon told the outlet. “It’s very sad.” The deli’s locations in Stanford University and on Sand Hill Road will also close.

The versatile eatery serves as a coffee shop, a sandwich shop and Mexican food restaurant. Its “After 5” restaurant serves beer and wine, and hosts weekly karaoke nights and live music.

Lutticken’s classic deli sandwiches, like the Hawaiian, complete with ham, Swiss cheese, and pineapple salsa, could only set you back around $13.

A neighborhood favorite, Lutticken’s was also award-winning. The deli picked up the California Senate District 13’s Small Business of the Year award in 2024. In 2000, a Al Gore stopped by Lutticken’s for a stop on the campaign trail in his bid for President.

Congdon, who has been working at the business since it opened in 1981, says business never fully bounced back since the pandemic.

“We’re just not making the money we used to make,” she said. “If it was sustainable, we would stay open. But it’s not.”

The closure follows the shuttering of several other Bay Area small businesses, including soul food spot Home of Chicken and Waffles in Oakland, which closed in late August, and Hank & Frank Bicycles, which also closed in Oakland last month after 101 years in business.

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