Jordan Beck | Daily Press D&M Subs Co-Owner Erik Johnson prepares smoked turkey at the business’ Escanaba location. Over the past 35 years, D&M Subs has been serving up sandwiches in Delta County.

Editor’s note: The Daily Press features a profile of an area business each week. This week’s featured business is D&M Subs of Escanaba.

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By Jordan Beck

jbeck@dailypress.net

ESCANABA — Over the past 35 years, D&M Subs has been serving up sandwiches in Delta County.

Erik Johnson, who currently co-owns D&M Subs with his wife Diane, said the business’ original owners were Dick Liebel and Mark Hackleman.

“That’s how they got ‘D&M,'” Erik said. They opened D&M Subs’ original location in Gladstone in 1984.

Liebel left the business after 15 months, and Hackleman bought his share. Hackleman went on to run D&M Subs along with his wife Debbie, and they opened the business’ Escanaba location in 1994.

In 2003, Mark and Debbie Hackleman retired and sold the business to their sons Steve and Dan. They ran D&M Subs until Erik and Diane Johnson bought it in 2010.

Erik said he had been sailing on the Great Lakes on an ore vessel before taking over D&M Subs.

“I always wanted to own my own business — an opportunity came to me to purchase this,” he said, noting that he was also motivated to buy D&M Subs because doing so would allow him to avoid leaving his family for extended periods.

Since he and Diane took over D&M Subs, Erik said they have moved the business’ Escanaba store to a new location.

“It was over behind Ernie’s Irish Pub,” he said of this store’s former spot. About five years ago, Erik bought a building near the Escanaba Upper Elementary School, which D&M Subs has since moved into. This location had previously been home to two other Escanaba sandwich shops — Ramido’s and the U.P. Original Sub Shop.

According to Erik, business at D&M Subs has been strong.

“Last year was my best year,” he said.

Erik said D&M Subs has dozens of sandwiches on its menu.

“We have 43 different subs, which can all be made into salads or wraps,” he said. The business’ best-selling sub is the “American,” which features ham, baloney and salami.

D&M sells its sandwiches in four different sizes — “family” (two feet), “large” (one foot), “small” (eight inches) and “mini” (five inches). Erik said that these subs are piled high with toppings.

“We’ve always been known not to be skimpy on what we put on it,” he said, noting many of the meats used by D&M Subs come from the area. The restaurant also slices its vegetables and bakes its bread fresh each day.

Erik said he would like to keep D&M Subs running for the foreseeable future.

“I’m hoping this will be a fixture in Delta County for years and years to come,” he said.

He also thanked people living in and visiting the area for allowing his business to thrive for the past few decades.

“We couldn’t be D&M Subs without our customers,” Erik said, noting that the business has been voted the area’s number one sub and sandwich restaurant by readers of the Daily Press for 11 years in a row.

For more information, visit www.dmsubs.com.