LAFAYETTE PARISH — “All I really want is after I’ve had an interaction, I want them to walk away better because of it.”
That’s the philosophy Craig Biddy carries with him every day behind the deli counter at Amis Grocery in Lafayette.
Biddy first started giving back to the community as an English teacher, but the demands of the classroom eventually pushed him to consider a new path.
“Eventually I lost my mind to the tornado that is the teaching world and so my family and I decided, ‘you know what? There are other ways to give to the community,’” he said.
Now, that mission plays out through sandwiches and small moments of connection. “My ability to see them in that moment means I am sharing my life with them,” Biddy said.
Between checking out customers and slicing meat, he offers something else—an effort to make people feel seen.
“I want to provide an extension of comfort.”
That comfort, he says, is rooted in a deep desire to create.
“I love making the food, love getting creative with it. You know with having a master’s in creative writing I’m—I have to be making, I have to be doing.”
Even with a graduate degree, Biddy said working in a deli doesn’t feel like settling. He doesn’t view the role as beneath him because his focus has always been on impact, not appearances; He says s his focus is on “Being in a position where I have left a positive impact.”
He goes as far as remembering customers’ usual orders—not as a gimmick, but as a gesture. “It’s not about the remembering for me, it’s about that person feeling seen.”
The way he sees it, human connection is central to a meaningful life.
“If you've lived solely by yourself, I don’t feel like you had a real human experience,” he said. “You just exist in this bubble right now and if you are not leaving your hand print on it, then you haven't done anything.”
Because feeling seen starts with someone who chooses to see you.
“The best thing that you can do is do the best that you can do…the best thing that you can do is do the best that you can do, whatever that means for you” Biddy says.
