1979
Elephants Delicatessen began on April 19, 1979. We took over a failing deli, knocked out a wall, and scrubbed around the clock for four days.
1980
Portland was still small and distinctly un-cosmopolitan. Good cheese, wine, and coffee were not to be had. Elephants began to introduce them to Portland: fresh pasta, fresh-squeezed juice, sun-dried tomatoes, cheeses flown in directly from Europe, espresso drinks, olive paste, fresh pesto and really good, wholesome food to go.
1980
James Beard, a Portland-born cook, cookbook author, teacher and television personality, talking food with our Executive Chef and Co-Owner Scott Weaver.
1984
Elephants Delicatessen serves its first bowl of Tomato Orange Soup, a perennial customer favorite.
2000
Elephants sprouted wings and flew to the Fox Tower where we opened the first Flying Elephants, a smaller and quicker, but still beautiful, fun and tasty, version of the original store.
2004
Elephants moved to its own building and parking lot on NW 22nd off Burnside. We had a great parade from the old location to the new. Hundreds of customers with their kids and dogs, along with clowns, Chinese dragons, stilt walkers, local celebrities like Darcelle and Gerry Frank, all paraded behind a huge marching band, followed by a fire truck, followed by a huge elephant float. It was so much fun and it hasn't stopped since.
2004
Elephants catering, lunch delivery and bakery were bursting out of our small kitchen. So a new location, the central kitchen, opened.
2005
A new Flying Elephants opened off Kruse way on Meadow in Lake Oswego.
2009
Elephants on Wheels, a really cute (and delicious) food cart, opened on the Fifth Avenue Transit Mall side of Macy's in downtown Portland. Sadly, we had to close it in 2016 when the Macy’s building property, where it was located, was sold.
2009
Flying Elephants flew all the way to PDX and finally made great carry-on (or eat-in) food available at the airport.
2011
Elephants Delicatessen was the first business in Oregon to invest in an electric Nissan Leaf vehicle. It’s still running like a clean-energy-burning champ!
2011
Elephants Delicatessen embarked on a new concept of full-service, high-end events. We officially renamed the catering division to Elephants Catering & Events. And there was much rejoicing!
2013
We were excited to open our brand new location, Elephants on Corbett, in the Corbett-Terwilliger-Lair Hill neighborhood, along with the Corbett Room, a beautiful private event venue.
2014
We opened a new Flying Elephants location, with amazing views of Mt. Hood and the Tilikum Crossing, at the recently opened Collaborative Life Sciences Building.
2014
We opened our Central Offices in SE Portland, across the street from our Central Kitchen.
2015
We’re going to need a bigger kitchen! We grew and renovated our central kitchen in SE Portland to make more food more efficiently – and to give our employees improved equipment and workspace amenities.
2015
Elephants Delicatessen earned its B Corp Certification, officially validating the vision and practices we’ve had since we started in 1979.
2017
Another Flying Elephants touches down: this time in the historic Montgomery Park building.
2020
Elephants Delicatessen took over management of the Leftbank Annex event venue!
2020
We've opened our location in the World Trade Center building! This location has everything you love about our Flying Elephants, plus a full grill, and is blocks away from the waterfront.
2022
Shaded patios, a full grill, and brand new gelato station! Our new location in Lake Oswego is open seven days a week. Come say hi!
2023
Our new production facility Milwaukie Kitchen opened, and will allow for our team to make delicious and fresh food more efficiently for more people.
2023
We opened our Cedar Hills location which offers a full Elephants experience. Cheese and charcuterie, grilled classics, grab and go food, gelato, wine by the glass, beers on tap, and so much more!
