First, a disclosure: this reporter found interviewing the two gals who own the new Roly Poly sandwich shop in Lighthouse Plaza on Route One somewhat difficult owing to the aroma of freshly baking cookies wafting through the place.

Overcoming the distraction in the pursuit of journalism, I learned that Debbie Cole and Cindy Necaise followed the path to Rehoboth forged by other pioneers before them.

"We knew we wanted to live full-time in Rehoboth," says Debbie, "and the personnel staffing career I had in Baltimore, and Cindy’s software job didn’t exactly transfer here, so we knew we had to create jobs for ourselves."

To that end, Debbie and Cindy looked into a franchise with Roly Poly Sandwiches—a woman-owned company, whose proprietors the gals met in Key West.

Now, with a Roly Poly Sandwich shop all their own, Debbie and Cindy are settling in, welcoming customers, making wraps and baking cookies.

The story began like many other tales of entrepreneurs arriving here at the beach. The two women, together for eight years, hail from the Baltimore area and began their Rehoboth adventure with a weekend place at Versailles across Route One in 1999.

"We were in Rehoboth weekends, vacations, any other time we could possibly get away," Cindy says, noting that soon, going back to Maryland between visits seemed less and less desirable. "We had so many friends here and we just knew we wanted to be here all the time."

Cindy’s grandparents had owned a little café in Kansas, and she always dreamed of having her own business. For her part, Debbie wanted to make sure that whatever business they chose would be a good fit.

"We looked at everything from blueberry farms to B&Bs," Debbie says, before settling on the Roly Poly franchise. "It’s a good fit for us, because we like the structure," says Cindy, "with all the recipes and everything the franchise provides it’s a real roadmap for success."

That roadmap includes over 90 different sandwich wraps, with over 50 available on any given day, along with three soups a day, numerous salads, and, of course, those aromatic cookies.

"It works for us," says Debbie, "tell us what to do and we do it!"

Cindy and Debbie had a common sense business plan that meshed well with their social life and included lots of meeting and greeting people, getting involved in local events (they were at the Wilmington Avenue Block Party), giving away samples and just being part of the community.

"It’s different when you are here all the time," Debbie says. "You meet many more people than when you are just here weekends. It’s so nice to walk down the street in the winter and know almost everyone you see."

Now living at Canal Landing, the pair enjoys working hard for themselves and knowing so many more people in the community. "You can be at a traffic light on Route One and know the people in the cars on either side of you."

While the gals have been super busy setting up the business and working hard to establish a clientele, they have had some time for fun, too. They played in the CAMP Rehoboth women’s golf group and have had time to become involved in the Founders’ Circle for the community center.

In addition, Debbie has a passion for surf fishing. That’s where you’ll find her on her infrequent days off from Roly Poly.

On Film Festival weekend, the couple was already hard at work at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, putting together a huge catering order and getting ready for a very busy lunchtime crowd.

Roly Poly offers convenient box-lunches with a sandwich, chips, potato salad or cole slaw and cookies, great for business meeting orders or, in season, a group beach outing.

For parties they do sandwich platters, offering everything from Tuscan Turkey and California Hummer to what they call the Wild Side (for the more adventurous eater) with Wild Scallion or Salmon Roll.

For those Atkins or South Beach dieters there are low carb wraps available too, along with huge veggie salads, a Greek salad and much more.

Come visit Debbie and Cindy at Roly Poly and check out the amazing selection of goodies and how this pair built a career for themselves one sandwich at a time.