Pig and Olive Highlights Revamped Markus Foods

Last winter, Patrick Burns was at the liquor store in Whitefish when he noticed a number of police vehicles blocking off the street leading to his house. Unsure of what was going on, Burns went outside to talk to a sheriff’s deputy. 

“I asked if everything was cool, and he said ‘oh yeah, everything’s fine,’” Patrick recalled. “Then he asked ‘but I want to know, when can I get a sandwich from you again?’”

After a three-month-long renovation of the deli space at Markus Foods, the answer to that question is now.

Patrick, along with his wife Molly, ran Pig and Olive, a delicatessen that opened in Whitefish in 2014, but took a hiatus from the business for several years.

Last October, when Markus Foods was purchased by Rob Isackson and his partners, one of the first changes was to remodel the deli and Pig and Olive returned to the Whitefish food scene in the new space. 

“You have enough [people asking about sandwiches] and you feel like there’s some legs to this thing. We didn’t realize how much people missed us,” Burns said. “The response has just been outstanding.”

Jared Zuege, one of the new owners and manager of the grocery store, was eager to reach out to Burns.

“I know nothing about food. I know how to eat food, buy food and sell food. But I know nothing about how to make food,” Zuege said. “So the idea was to get a bigger, fresher deli in here as a first priority.”

“Ideas went through my head and I thought, well, Pig and Olive was always my favorite … so I just approached Patrick,” he added. 

In the years between iterations of the deli, the couple worked at a number of different businesses, including some local restaurants. Molly is now the head chef for Pig and Olive while Patrick serves as another manager for the market in addition to owning the deli.

“It’s pretty surreal actually, I never really thought that this would happen to us,” Molly said, while whipping up Thai steak sandwiches for the lunch rush. “But we kind of underestimated how much help it would take… especially in a year where no one wants to work.”

The Burns say since they opened the deli they routinely sell out of sandwiches during the lunch rush. Due to a staffing shortage, the deli is unable to offer breakfast right now, but it is eager to bring it back. 

 “For people going up to the mountain, it’s going to be great,” Patrick said.

Molly has connected to the kitchen since her first gig working at a pizza joint. After moving to the Flathead more than a decade ago, she recalls searching for a good Bahn mi sandwich and making a plan to open up a deli that served her favorites food.

“I kind of just decided to make the things I missed,” she said, mentioning Arabic and Asian favorites she enjoyed in the city. “If you make what you want to eat it’s easy to share that with other people.”

“It’s important to make everything from scratch,” she continued. “You know anyone can just buy a box of macaroni salad and dump it in to a bowl. I feel like it’s more special to make everything – it’s like inviting everyone into your house to break bread with you.”

Once Pig and Olive is fully staffed Molly wants to add dinner options in addition to breakfast and expand the already robust dessert selection — homemade ice cream is top of her mind.

In the rest of the market, renovations are complete, but Zuege and Patrick are constantly working to expand the inventory. 

Employees and customers are encouraged to request any items they are seeking and, if it’s possible, the market will try to stock them. A recent addition to the shelves is maple water, which sold out last week.

Patrick and Zuege are thrilled by the early success of Pig and Olive in the new location, if for no other reason than the quick access to fresh food for lunch. 

“There’s just so much cool new stuff, like they just started doing poke bowls,” Zuege said. “I can’t work my way through the menu fast enough.”