Anthony Lanasa was pressed for both time and money when he was laid off from his job as head chef at Peabody Heights Brewery. He made a pivot, decided to open a panini shop, and a mere 27 days later, PRESSED opened its doors.
Located at 3528 Chestnut Ave., just steps away from The Avenue, hungry customers can choose from cold or hot sandwiches, snacks, and drinks. The menu rotates, with current offerings including the Thanksgiving-y CranDaddy (oven roasted turkey, cranberry pesto, spinach, and Swiss cheese on ciabatta on the cold sandwich menu for just $6.00) and the F&M Press (fig jam, Manchester Fungi oyster mushrooms, shaved red onion, and spinach on sourdough bread on the hot sandwich menu for $12.00).
Knowing how to license a restaurant came in handy for Lanasa, who has done this before.
“I knew I could license a restaurant in 14 days,” Lanasa told Baltimore Fishbowl. “I’ve done it in seven before in Baltimore County, but I just decided to take a bet on myself. And if I could find a lease within three days, I would just continue on and just keep going.”
Lanasa got in touch with a leasing agent with whom he had worked before and asked to check out a listed space, formerly Maillard Pastry. Two days after being laid off he put in an application and by day three he had a draft of the lease. He passed the credit check and began the licensing process.
“These systems in Baltimore are now mostly automated,” Lanasa said. “But when I began opening businesses in like 2011, it was still very paperwork[-oriented] as they were transitioning to digital, and I was familiar with going into the offices to discuss and learn about the processes, so naturally I knew each place I had to go and [in] what order.”
Lanasa got the signed lease back on Monday, on Tuesday got word that the first steps had been approved, so he then began the health inspection process. Scheduling the inspection for the following Thursday, he and business partner Tony Levan spent the next nine days cleaning, organizing, getting the shop’s furniture and equipment in place, and ensuring the space was set up to code regarding chemicals and sanitation.
“The best thing is when you do all this work yourself as a worker or owner-operator, you become very familiar with your space, and you’re able to really pick out what needs to be done and in what order,” Lanasa explained. “So, putting together the restaurant in 27 days was primarily focused on getting the administrative work out of the way, so we could actually open.”
After the shop passed the fire marshal inspection, then the building inspection, Lanasa spent hours in one afternoon running between the permits office, the health department, and the circuit court to get their license in hand. PRESSED opened its doors on Thursday, Oct. 29. In fact, they had already begun receiving orders the day before, so they began prepping food Wednesday night.
Lanasa is a self-trained chef and opened his first restaurant when he was 21 years old. He had an uncommon business philosophy that was suited to opening restaurants, and then he fell in love with cooking. He has always believed in being a working owner-operator and having a worker-focused methodology for his businesses – a philosophy he says not many tend to agree with.
“We just are able to offer more competitive prices because we’re not seeking to make a profit outside of our labor force,” Lanasa said. “When I tend to speak up for employees and other people, I really can’t stand any form of discrimination in any way, and that’s also led me to disagree with a lot of forms of practice. So, I’ve tried to start businesses because I believe there’s a better way to do it, and I believe we’re going to finally be able to show that, with this as our start.”
Referencing the difference between “the Sam’s Club mentality” and “the Costco mentality,” Lanasa said a lot of people tell him he is “crazy,” but he says he is simply not greedy.
“’How much money do you need to make?’ is the question,” he said. “And if you want to make more, then it’s up to me to go, ‘I’ll take a smaller percentage of what I’m doing, give it back to my employees so they can afford to also have the bolstered work, and then I can go to another location where we can continue to spread.’”
One of the ways Lanasa hopes the business will grow is catering, which would allow them to operate comfortably outside of their normal business hours. They want to be a boon to their neighbors, work on projects like family meal plans, and more. He hopes to have affordable dinners people can pick up and heat at home that are for families of four to six. And not just dinners – breakfasts are on his mind, too, nutritious food that everyday people who want to be more conscious about what they eat can feel good about and afford.
“At the end of the day, what’s a profit for if it’s not going to help benefit its community, its business itself, the infrastructures that it’s now creating?” Lanasa asked.
PRESSED is open on Wednesday through Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and customers can order in advance online.
