Can't get to the deli? It'll come to you

A&N Italian Deli, which has operated along busy U.S. 19 in Clearwater for the last 28 years, is finding a way around a long-term highway construction project that has substantially reduced its customer traffic.

Rather than hoping drivers can still get into the only entrance to Allen's Creek shopping center, where it's the only remaining tenant, the deli now offers delivery service and offsite catering to longtime customers, which include other nearby businesses being affected by the roadwork. It's also offering two-for-one dinners and other specials.

“We're trying to maintain the relationships that may have left due to this,” Mario Pierluca, an employee and nephew of deli owner Nancy Pisani Bowers, tells Coffee Talk. He says some customers have lost patience with the deli over the construction problem, while others still make the extra effort to go into the 1,400-square-foot restaurant.

The U.S. 19 project, at a cost of $123.6 million, got under way in late 2009 and is expected to continue through summer 2014 on a three-mile stretch south of Gulf to Bay Boulevard. The Florida Department of Transportation is removing traffic signals between Gulf to Bay (State Road 60) and Whitney Road, and building new interchanges at Belleair Road and Seville Boulevard.

A&N asked the FDOT for larger, lighted sign indicating the entrance to the shopping center, though Pierluca is concerned that people may think the deli is closed because of the big pipes and heavy equipment lining the side of the road.

Bowers says she doesn't want to relocate, since “there's so much pride here.” Besides, the highway workers have become everyday lunch customers.