PARK CITY — When Sundance arrives, with its 10,000 visitors and at least that many cell phones, some locals get out of town.
Some locals rent out their businesses.
Some locals buy 1,000 loaves of bread.
Meet Meg Palmer and Colten Wade, partners in life and partners in business.
Five and a half months ago they bought the Back Door Deli in the heart of Park City's Old Town. They're about 50 paces off Main Street on the corner of Heber Avenue and Swede Alley.
In Hollywood that would translate to Hollywood and Vine.
For movie fans running to and from screenings and checking in at the festival box office — which happens to be right next door — the Back Door Deli is location, location, location and location.
This fact was not lost on Meg and Colten when they decided last summer to quit their various day jobs — he was a freelance photographer and coffee-maker at a restaurant; she was a waitress and worked at a grocery store — and go into the sandwich business.
"Sundance was a big part of us making the decision," says Meg. "It could set us up for the whole year if everything goes well."
"Five hundred sandwiches a day, that's the goal," says Colten.
That's 5,000 sandwiches. Half a sandwich for every visitor.
To reach their goal, the Back Door Deli owners crafted a unique Sundance business strategy.
First, they obliterated their regular menu, cutting the sandwich choices down from 50 to five.
This was imperative, says Meg: "Nothing's hot, that's the key. Preparation is at a minimum."
You can have anything you want at the Back Door as long as what you want is turkey, ham, roast beef, tuna or peanut butter and jelly.
The deli's previous owners got into trouble during Sundance by trying to offer too much to too many.
"They would open at 10, the line would get crazy, crazy long, and then they would run out of stuff by 6," says Colten. "We want to avoid all that."
They'll open at 10 and stay open 'til midnight or later. Meg and Colten plan on 12-hour shifts for the 10 days of Sundance.
The rest of the staff consists of Lily and Sheila, who are locals, and a couple of imports flown in especially for Sundance: Colten's brother-in-law Jeff from California and his good friend Ezra from Massachusetts.
"As long as we're doing this, we're going to try and have fun," says Colten.
Fun as in making money fun, as opposed to going to the movies and looking for celebrities on Main Street fun.
"It's like we're getting ready for a triathlon," says Meg.
"We're all in shape, we all ski," says Colten, who adds, "You never know. This could get me a heli trip to Haines (Alaska)."
But first they've got to dispense 50 pounds of turkey, 13 pounds of roast beef, another 13 pounds of ham, 16 pounds of tuna, 1,000 slices of cheese and 35 pounds of coffee — every day.
Plus 100 daily loaves of bread.
The only thing that might take them off their game is if a local comes in and orders "the usual."
But they've even prepared for that.
Says Colten, "We're just going to ask them to come back when we change the menu."
Lee Benson's column will run daily throughout the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.