When a chef decides to start something similar to Wawa but focused on a neighborhood, the result is the highly anticipated new Breezy’s Deli & Market that opened this past weekend in South Philadelphia, writes Michael Klein for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Chef Chad Durkin spent a decade working on Washington Avenue, on the line that straddles the Point Breeze and Graduate Hospital neighborhoods. That gave him the idea to open a deli and sandwich shop offering shelf space to local brands and selling fresh produce.

The space would serve as a small supermarket available to rent for private functions. In addition to sandwiches, it would offer prepackaged, sliced meats by the pound.

“If I was going to open up a second business, it’d be close, it’d be manageable, and it’d be into this community that I feel so strongly about and vice versa,” he said.

Breezy’s Deli & Market, located a block west of Durkin’s Porco’s Porchetteria and Small Oven Pastry Shop, is the fulfillment of this idea.

The name is an homage to the neighborhood, with offerings including bins of produce, racks full of pantry items and snacks, a high-tech smoothie and slushie machine, and many other things a neighborhood shop with a deli should have.

Read more about Breezy’s Deli & Market and its Wawa-like qualities at The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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Chad Durkin, who owns Porco’s and Small Oven Pastry, is also the owner of Breezy’s.