After More Than 50 Years, Steck's Still Going Strong

Bridgewater's winner in the Best Deli category prides itself on being a true-to-form, classic delicatessen experience for its customers.

The deli in question is , which, for more than 50 years, has served generations of hungry Somerset County residents.

“It’s a German-oriented deli," said Keith Swann, owner of Steck’s Delicatessen. "We have an abundance of varieties of ethnic foods from Germany and Holland. The main focus of our business is the delicatessen, which just doesn’t happen anymore. People who appreciate a good delicatessen flock here.”

It would seem that a lot of people appreciate what the folks at Steck’s do on a daily basis. After all, as Swann said, people continue to visit the deli long after they have moved away from Bridgewater and the surrounding area.

“For a lot of families, it’s tradition," he said. "Yesterday, I had two families that moved out of state and came back for lunch. It still has that small-town feel. If you’re from the Bridgewater Somerville area, when you gravitate back to town, there are certain places you go. You go to your certain pizzeria, Chinese restaurant."

"In our case, the kids want to come back to Steck’s for our potato salads and a sandwich," he added. "That’s the little niche in the market that we have.”

It’s a combination of the quality of service and customer loyalty that has kept Steck’s up and running since 1959. Swann, who bought the deli from its owners in 1986, noted that the customer-staff relationship at Steck’s has been a big key to the deli’s decades of success.

“We have done very well through these turbulent times because of, number one, the loyalty of our customers and the hard work of my staff,” Swann said. “I’ve been here for over thirty years, so people know that I keep an eye on things. It’s the quality and a tradition that has helped us through these tough times.”

For those reasons, Steck’s has not only survived, it has thrived. So much so that Swann opened a location in Pluckemin in December 2010.

“To open the store in Pluckemin was very exciting and very fun, but what I did there was I didn’t hurt this location,” he said. “I have customers from Basking Ridge or from the northern edge of Bridgewater, or the northeast edge of Bridgewater [around] Martinsville that are Bridgewater people who don’t want to gravitate toward the circle. It’s a softer ride right into Pluckemin.”

For those afraid of Steck’s losing its small-town charm, not to worry—keeping that local feel is just as important to Swann and his staff.

“That store [in Pluckemin] has done very, very well, but [Bridgewater] is the main location,” Swann said. “This is what I call the flagship.”