TKB Bakery & Deli Customer Appreciation Block Party and #1 Yelp Spot Celebration!
By Noe Gutierrez
Saturday, April 7, 2018 marks the first time TKB Bakery & Deli will be celebrating their longtime success on a large scale with a parking lot ‘pat on the back’ for its customers, staff and family. After years of providing the desert with the best in sandwich art Melina, Brandon, Nathan and parents Paul and Athena Sippel, will be throwing their customers a block party like no other. Scheduled to perform live are ALCHEMY, AARON MAZARATI, and more! TKB will be providing free water, sodas and merchandise. Big Rigg BBQ will be cooking on the lot. There will be The First Annual ‘The Trump’ Sandwich Eating Contest, a balloon artist for the kids and TKB’s full menu will be available through 7 p.m. A portion of the proceeds will go to F.I.N.D. Food Bank.
I’ve been a customer of TKB since day one. I spoke with Melina about this first time event and why it’s important. Melina shared, “I’ve wanted to do something like this for a while. Making #1 makes a party mandatory. We’ve never celebrated with our employees and the family. We just get to work because there are lines out the door and we never sat down to plan a big party because it is a lot of work. Now I want to give back to everybody who has been supporting my family the last 20 years. Whether you came into TKB once a week or once a month, I want you here and I want you to celebrate with us. This is for everybody in the valley that supports TKB. This award belongs to the Coachella Valley. We have the #1 eatery in the nation! We have the #1 music festival in the world! Indio is only going to get better. We’re creating stars in this city. We’re a big fish in a small pond but we’re being nationally recognized on huge levels. I want to mingle and talk to all my customers. This is a meet and greet with the Sippels!”
Since TKB gained the number one business on the 2018 Yelp Top 100 Places To Eat List they have been covered by every sensible local, national publication and news agency. One thing these media agencies have missed, according to Melina Sippel, is the why. “The biggest thing that’s missing is the reasons we’re a 5-Star eatery. What are the things that make us 5-Star? I think having so many regular customers for so many years and us and knowing each one by name while treating them great when they come in and making them whatever they want when they want it. Everyone that walks through the door is treated with so much respect, joy, love and happiness. This is a happy crew. The employees are happy, the family is happy and we take care of you.”
There’s no doubt that achieving number one is significant but the difficulty lies in maintaining that spot. Melina assured me that TKB has big plans and a vision. “TKB isn’t going anywhere. We’re going to be 5-Star from here on out. The #1 spot is a blessing but the biggest thing is us maintaining the same service that we’ve been providing that got us to this point. When you’re at the top everybody is trying to bring you down. We need to rise above and be better and there still some things we continue to work on.” So far TKB has risen above the standard for customer service.
That customer service is not always provided and Melina and TKB staff is fully aware. “There are places you aren’t looked at in the eye and are not treated like a person. You’re spending good money for mediocre food on top of it. Not only are people treated great at TKB, they’re given food that’s 6 stars in my opinion. Their bellies are full and they get their free cookie in the end. If I was driving on the freeway and had nowhere to eat and I came into TKB I would say this place is amazing. This is gonna be my stop. It happens every day. Customers see the billboards or they go on Yelp and they see 5-Star rating and they come in and they say OMG!” I have tried many a TKB sammie and OMG is not the only exclamation of excitement I’ve expressed.
TKB has defied all logic in its success. Melina agreed, “This is the worst location you could possibly have a sandwich shop. We don’t even have proper signage. We’re in the back of an industrial park in the middle of Indio.” The local grapevine and Yelp’s ratings have incited a sandwich riot it Indio. “It began with word of mouth then Yelp happened. Yelp has been a big part in all of this. We made the top 5 for four years in a row. We broke through the ceiling this year. It’s been amazing for us. A lot of people bash Yelp. Look at our family business. Look what it did for our small family in Indio, California. It took us to the next level. Without Yelp we would have been passed by. Now our possibilities are endless because of having this national recognition. Every review that people write bad and good is pretty on point. These aren’t people we asked to write a review. They just had a great experience and wanted to put it on their Yelp account.” With all the success, it’s amazing that TKB is not sitting on its laurels.
I asked Melina what she would like to share with potential first-time customers. Melina declared, “We have the best sandwich you’ll ever eat. You will be taken care of. A free cookie goes to all first-timers. You’ll feel like family in the end.”
As a long-time customer I can testify that you will feel like family and you will return. Pavlov was right.
TKB Bakery & Deli Customer Appreciation Block Party & #1 Yelp Spot Celebration
Saturday, April 7, 2018 – 3-7 p.m.
44911 Golf Center Parkway Dr, Indio, CA 92201
(760) 775-8330
tkbbakery.com findfoodbank.org
