There’s a red bucket hanging next to a yellow neon sign that screams, “BREAKFAST SANDWICHES” at the modest 250-square-foot Calabama stand in Hollywood. To a casual passerby, it might look like the bucket was placed there by mistake, or is perhaps an item left outside for cleaning.

But that red bucket is actually the entire reason founder Cara Haltiwanger was able to open her brick-and-mortar serving her versions of handheld breakfast deliciousness last November.

When the pandemic struck in 2020, Haltiwanger, originally from Alabama and a longtime Los Angeles restaurant vet who’d been running breakfast sandwich pop-ups for years, decided to try something as a last-ditch effort to make some income: Customers could order her signature Calabama breakfast sandwiches via Instagram and then pick them up at her apartment. The novel twist? She lowered them down from her fourth-story fire escape to the ground in that same red bucket that now hangs at the restaurant.

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“I was just trying to survive, and it was my pivot to do so,” Haltiwanger says. 

Calabama’s breakfast drops quickly became a phenomenon: Haltiwanger’s sandwiches sold out quickly every time they were released and even earned support from celebrities like Halle Berry and Will Ferrell. She would continue to do the drops for 4.5 more years, until she landed the former corner taco stand where Calabama now operates. Much like the classic burger........

© SFGate