Udi the Sandwichman: former accountant gauges economy by lunchtime orders.

• Author: Peterson, Eric

Economists don't normally look to sandwich sales as a prime fiscal indicator. But Udi Baron isn't your ordinary economist. Nor is he your ordinary sandwich man.

In the 1990s, Baron's operation, Udi the Sandwichman, specialized in sandwich delivery and catering to businesses along the Front Range's tech-heavy U.S. 36 corridor. "We started when the Internet craze first started," said Baron, who jumped from corporate accounting to sandwiches in 1994. But in 1999, he said, "Our business all of a sudden dropped." The economist in Baron saw the sandwich downtick as a harbinger of the tech bubble bursting, so he focused his sales on "non-cyclical businesses." The strategy paid off.

After the tech economy began to melt down in 2000, Udi's newly diverse customer base buoyed the company to 15 percent-plus sales growth in the tough years that followed.

"It was amazing," said Baron, "When the market fell, those were my best years: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, I had great years."

From the start, Baron and his wife, Fern, took a different approach and began taking advance orders rather than "peddling sandwiches" door-to-door. He's nurtured the operation from a mom-and-pop business (initially it was just Baron and his wife) into a $4 million operation that now employs more than 70 people, with your typical weekday morning's production at well over 1,000 sandwiches for delivery to offices and wholesale accounts later that day.

In March, the Barons opened a restaurant in north Denver, Udi's on Broadway, where they've consolidated their operations. Every week, the onsite bakery turns out 11,000 loaves of bread, supplying not only Udi's in-house needs but also those of some of the top eateries in Denver. That expansion is also reflected in new operations inside the...