Until a few weeks ago, when I began to occupy an office in Moorestown, NJ fulltime, I was working as a product auditor for a remote app. My job was to travel around the tristate area going to supermarkets, big box, and convenience stores checking inventory and merchandising different products on the shelves. One of the stores I popped into a few times is Ralph's Market on Main Street in downtown Moorestown.

Today is not the first time I ate lunch from Ralph's. Even though I'm originally from New York City, I spent a majority of my childhood growing up in New Jersey, and with that came an affinity for a good ol' Jersey Sub, or as those of us in in Philadelphia metropolitan area call it, hoagies.

At one time, you could get a real deal freshly made hoagie from Wawa, back when they sliced the meat and cheese per order and used real bread and didn't serve anything but. Of course, there has never been a shortage of mom-and-pop pizzerias that craft an excellent Jersey style hoagie. However, I've noticed the bar has lowered quite a bit since franchises like Jersey Mike's and Subway, the worst of its kind, have become hugely popular all over the contiguous state.

it's been a while since I found a local spot that can make a hoagie the way I remember it from my adolescent years - the perfect roll, shredded lettuce, quality meat and cheese sliced fresh and the perfect amount of dressings. Ralph's does just that.

The trick to a good hoagie isn't really a huge secret, anyone who's spent enough time in The Garden State can tell you it's all in the order in which you build the sandwich. Yes, I called it a sandwich; technically it is. I watched the guy behind the counter at Ralph's and knew right away he was well trained in the artform. The mayo goes on first. Then the meat, then the cheese. The oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and oregano gets sprinkled on after the onions, tomatoes, and lettuce, in that order. And the lettuce had better be shredded, otherwise the dressing doesn't absorb and spread evenly.

My only complaint the last time I ate at Ralph's is that I discovered they used a sheet of single-use plastic when they wrapped the hoagie in paper in order to keep the insides together and prevent the paper from getting soggy. I remembered to ask them to omit the plastic this time, to which they obliged. However, as I watched the man build my hoagie I realized he used a plastic sheet to portion the meat, and that sheet ended up in the garbage afterwards which is exactly what I aim to prevent with my zero waste lifestyle and small business consulting endeavors. I'm n sure this hasn't been brough to their attention yet.

There are many non-plastic options for wrapping sandwiches such as butcher paper, which I know they have in stock since they also sell meat. As a zero-waste small business consultant one of the things I aim for is reducing our collective plastic consumption and contribution to the waste stream. Environmental stewardship is one of the tenets my business operates on and I look forward to connecting with the likeminded and assisting the already swanky downtown Moorestown agora step their level of bougie way up.