Sandella’s Flatbread Café closed its location at 3201 Saint Paul St. in Charles Village on Monday in order to sell the property.
Most of Sandella’s restaurants are located on college campuses and corporate business locations. The company mainly works with contract feeders such as Sedexo. The restaurant offers a variety of options including wraps, paninis, quesadillas, flatbreads.
Sandella’s was located in a busy and populated area, surrounded by apartment complexes as well as several other chain food services such as Subway, Starbucks and Chipotle.
“There is a lot of competition in the area, and sales kept slowly declining,” Director of Operations and Account Management Jennifer Van Gorder said. “The owner tried to stay open for as long as he could, mainly for the students. He loved the students — it was the bulk of his business.”
According to Van Gorder, the owner of the former Sandella’s location had demonstrated support for Hopkins students.
“I know that he has also donated to different clubs and organizations affiliated with Johns Hopkins,” Van Gorder said.
Sandella’s has had a difficult time retaining business once other restaurants and cafés began opening in the area. The loss of business when students left campus for summer and winter breaks hurt the restaurants’ earnings as well.
“When Sandella’s first opened, it did very well. It was the new place to go. It stayed open late,” Van Gorder said. “The last couple of years have been tough for the owner.”
The students at Hopkins had mixed responses to the closing.
“I don’t mind that Sandella’s is closing,” senior Sammy Hirsch said. “I went one time in my four years here at Hopkins and decided never to go again. Hopefully something better is coming in that students will enjoy.’
“The quality of the food was not that great, and since there were other choices just as close to me that were better, I never really had the desire to go back,” Hirsch added.
Junior Gaby Frid compared Sandella’s to other restaurants in Charles Village.
“I guess I didn’t go to Sandella’s often because they didn’t have an item on their menu that was really popular and people like, like the mac and cheese at Donna’s,” Frid said.
Conversely, some students have sentimental attachments to the restaurant, even if they found the food subpar.
“It was where my roomie and I first bonded,” sophomore Vini Kumar said. “I usually got the flatbread pizza, but it wasn’t my favorite place to go and it was little pricey.”
It is unknown what store will be replacing Sandella’s.
“I did hear possibly a pizzeria was looking at the space,” Van Gorder said. “I don’t know if that deal went through or not,”
