Mansfield Deli: An Accidental Icon

When Tom Reilly first purchased the property on Pratt Street over two decades ago, he originally bought it as a real estate investment, and originally did not know what it was going to be, let alone the .

There was already a beer and wine store in the building when he bought it, but Reilly knew that he'd have to offer something else if he was going to be successful.

"It was an accident, really," he said. "There was a small little store there already, but with the big liquor store (Dub's) across the street, I knew that to get any growth [at the property] I'd have to do something different, so I decided to do sandwiches."

Reilly had owned a pub before, but the establishment only offered a small selection of items like hamburgers and hotdogs. He said he had never before worked in the sandwich-making business and learned as he went.

"I’m self taught, I guess you could say," he said.

Now, the Mansfield Deli is one of the few independently owned food shops in the town.

“There aren’t too many of us left,” he said.

Reilly said that the thing that he feels most separates his shop from a chain restaurant is the fact that he uses high-end and high quality ingredients in all his sandwiches. For one thing, the meat he uses is Boar’s Head, which is widely considered to be one of the best in the business. But Reilly stressed it’s not just the meat. He also uses high end produce, bread and sauces not usually found in corporate sandwich shops.

“Service, quality and price; we try to sell all three,” he said.

The Mansfield Deli also helps out in many community programs as well as school sports, and remains very active in the town as a whole. Indeed, the shop’s mascot is a Green Hornet, and many of the style of sandwiches on the menu, such as the Queen Bee and the Stinger draw their name from the mascot’s namesake.

“I love it here in Mansfield, it’s the show Cheers, we’re all on a first-name basis,” he said.

Reilly lived in Mansfield from 1985-2004, and now currently lives in Foxborough. He still owns a few other properties in the town of Mansfield. He said his favorite sandwich on the menu right now is the No. 4, which is heated corn beef, pastrami and swiss cheese on a braided roll with mustard.