What Does the President Eat for Lunch?

While in Baltimore to talk about paid sick leave and Senate strategy, President Barack Obama made time for lunch with a small group in North Baltimore.

Obama dined with Sen. Barbara Mikulski and three other women at Charmington’s, a cafe on North Howard Street, which he chose because of its owners’ policies around minimum wage and paid sick leave.

The President ordered a roast beef sandwich, turkey avocado wrap and English breakfast tea for lunch, Charmington’s co-owner Amanda Rothchild told the City Paper. He also had a side salad, the Associated Press reported.

“I ate a little too much, but that’s ok; it was off camera,” Obama said, according to a transcript of his remarks from the White House.

Check out pictures from the visit.

The purpose of the roundtable was to discuss paid sick leave, as the President pushes for a national standard; he said the U.S. is the only developed country that doesn’t guarantee sick leave to employees, and 43 million private-sector Americans don’t have any paid sick leave.

In addition to Charmington’s co-owner Rothchild, Obama’s lunch group included Mary Stein, a school nurse in Howard County who has two adult children; Morvika Jordan, who took two months of maternity leave recently when her daughter was born; and Sen. Mikulski, The Washington Post reported.

“...part of the reason we wanted to have this conversation here was because Amanda, who is part of the cooperative that opened this coffee shop, is really adamant, as a small business, in looking after their employees and providing paid sick leave, and making sure that they’re paying above minimum wage,” Obama said.

“And what Amanda has found—and we’ve heard this from a lot of employers...is that when they make that investment in their employees, it pays dividends because the employees are more productive, there’s lower turnover, there’s greater productivity,” Obama continued. “...both large and small companies, it turns out, end up being more profitable over the long term, because typically any organization and certainly business is only going to be as good as its people.”

See his remarks in full here and on YouTube, courtesy of the White House. Obama is anticipated to continue the discussion of paid sick leave during his State of the Union Address on Tuesday, according to CNN.

Charmington’s is at 2601 North Howard Street in Baltimore.

Related: Obama in Baltimore to Discuss Paid Leave, Senate Strategy

Screenshot from YouTube/White House.