This popular banh mi shop in Charlotte is up for sale. Here’s what we know.
The owners of Le’s Sandwiches and Cafe, a popular spot for banh mi in Charlotte, are planning for retirement and have put the business up for sale.
Owner Minh Nguyen told CharlotteFive that he and wife, Le Thi Le, are in their 60s and ready to relax after decades of working hard. A photo on Twitter by @Jack_CLT first alerted the city to a sign with the news posted at the door.
“Both of us want to retire because both of us came here in 1975 and worked all the time — almost the rest of my life — and right now I want to enjoy my life just a little bit,” Nguyen said.
“Before, I talked to my son — he tried to take over, but he has two little boys, 5 and 2 1/2.” Working seven days a week leaves him no time to take care of his boys, he said.
The cash-only staple spot has been open at Asian Corner Mall since 2004. The restaurant was featured in an episode of Peter Taylor’s ”Order/Fire” series, which takes a deeper look at Charlotte’s food culture. Son Tuan Nguyen said in the show that the shopping center offers the atmosphere of being in another country and noted the support the shop has gotten from local chefs, including James Beard-nominated chef Joe Kindred of Kindred.
“When Katy and I first moved back to Charlotte in 2009 from SF, we met the Nguyen family. Every time we went into Le’s, you’re greeted by the most delicious aromas and warm smiles. Le’s has been a staple in Charlotte, and we are very bummed to hear they’re retiring but are celebrating them in their next chapter,” he said.
“Every opportunity we had to show off that gem of a family-ran business we did. When we opened Kindred, we invited a lot of local chefs and restaurateurs to Kindred for a little family meal. Hands down, the best bite was the fish stew Tuan Nguyen brought that he and his mother Le had made — it was spectacular.”
Minh Nguyen and his wife both worked for a textile company in Charlotte after they arrived from Vietnam at the end of the Vietnam war. Le Thi Le started out making sandwiches to deliver to the supermarket, and they saved money to open a little shop, he said. She had a nail salon for a few years, but the sandwich business called to them.
There’s no fixed date for closing the shop while it’s up for sale. The lease isn’t up until July 2022. And there’s been a few offers, but the price hasn’t been right yet.
“A lot of people know us very well,” Nguyen said. “Also I have customers from a different city sometimes, they come from different states.”
The shop was called “Charlotte’s best kept secret” in a 2015 CharlotteFive article, where writer Danny Gassaway described the bread as “like a baguette that God handpicked and delivered to sandwich-makers,” and added: “Find me a better sandwich in Charlotte, or America.”
Le’s Sandwiches and Cafe
Location: 4520 N Tryon St #41, Charlotte, NC 28213
Neighborhood: North Charlotte
Cuisine: banh mi
Instagram: @les_banhmi_clt
This story was originally published December 21, 2021 at 10:25 AM.
