After 16 years behind the deli counter at Falletti Foods, Ornella Bouchard throws together a sandwich without a wasted motion. A ciabatta roll splits open with a few easy strokes of a bread knife, and her gloved hands get to work piling on meats: turkey, ham, pastrami and prosciutto, each layer disappearing beneath the next. After just two minutes, she puts the halves together, wraps the whole thing in plastic wrap and affixes a price sticker. 

“Poor boy sandwich,” the sticker reads. It’s $5.50. When unwrapped and sliced in half, the cross section reveals a layered stack of beiges, pinks and reds, like the striped walls of the Grand Canyon. 

This grab-and-go sandwich, hefty enough to feed a large man or a small horse, is one of the most popular items at Falletti Foods, a family-owned grocer in the Panhandle on the corner of Broderick and Oak streets. The poor boy is a simple stack of meat and swiss cheese on a roll smeared with mayo and mustard. In price, it’s one of San Francisco’s most economical full meals, going toe to toe with a banh mi from the Tenderloin. Bouchard said she sees one woman buy four poor boy sandwiches a day, seven days a week.

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“We’re out every day,” Bouchard, 60, said. “We can make anywhere from 20 to 28, and we never have anything left over.”

Jamie Falletti, left, and his father James “Tick” Falletti pose for a portrait in the produce section inside Falletti Foods, a family-run grocery store and deli in San Francisco, on May 4, 2026.

Signage and merchandise related to the store’s brand and history are on display inside Falletti Foods, a family-run grocery store and deli in San Francisco, on May 4, 2026.

Shoppers peruse the offerings inside Falletti Foods, a family-run grocery store and deli in San Francisco, on May 4, 2026.

A made-to-order sandwich at Falletti Foods’ deli, like the popular Italian sub or the veggie, goes for $12.50. The poor boy costs less than half that, mainly because........

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