Each Gino Panino sandwich is named after a strong and important woman in our lives, someone who raised us, cared for us, showed us to be kind, and in one case, taught us to speak Italian. Like everything at Rebel Bread, each sandwich - even each ingredient - has a story to tell. Before we undergo a big menu change and rebranding of Gino Panino, we want to tell its story, in all the lore-y details.

Gino Panino was created in October of 2024 as a little sister company to Rebel Bread. Gino Panino gets its name from our founder Zach’s grandfather, Nonno Gino. He was a skilled carpenter and “damn good cabinet maker,” who made a career crafting simple, sturdy pieces that were built to last. (You may also be aware of Nonna Gino’s loving wife, Nonna Gloria, whose famous cooking inspired the “Nonna G” Sourdough loaf). We also took inspiration from our favorite schiacciata sandwich shop, the famous All’Antico Vinaio first established in Florence, Italy.

In those early days, Gino Panino shared a kitchen with the Rebel Bread pastry and bread teams, but we had a dedicated sandwich-only team. It was exciting to see new products like local arugula from Altius Farms and slabs of mortadella from Fra’mani Meats being rolled in next to our palettes of flour and butter. We also enjoyed new fonts and brand colors popping up around the bakery, a first since Rebel Bread’s founding in 2018. Zach even created a Spotify playlist to capture the new Gino Panino vibe. Gino Panino was after all a separate company from Rebel Bread. A new brand philosophy started taking shape: “Made from a few simple ingredients, the best we can find”.

We were so excited to share this new line of “snazzy sandwiches with Italian soul” with our wholesale partners. Novel Strand, the iconic neighborhood brewery and coffeeshop in Baker was an early adapter, as was Wash Park neighborhood favorite Roast Coffee Bar. Leevers Locavore in Wheat Ridge dedicated an entire cooler to Gino Panino, situated right next to their in-store coffee bar. We were thrilled to expand our wholesale footprint beyond coffeeshops and into the cool brewery world, serving at Hogshead Brewery in LoHi.

In the summer of 2025, publicity partner Persist Publicity coordinated a “social media influencer” campaign to highlight our wholesale partners who were serving our sandwiches. The influencers loved to highlight Antonella’s seductive mozzarella cheese-pull and the even more seductive (in our opinion) use of single-origin Colorado heritage grains in the sourdough focaccia. There was a lot to say about these hearty sandwiches that honored their namesake’s well-built, simple cabinetry.

On the weekend of September 6th 2025, two big things happened: AM) Zach opened the brand new Rebel Bread Cafe and PM) Zach hosted his wedding celebration. You read that correctly: Zach hosted both his wedding party and a Cafe opening on the same day. It’s one of the most Rebel Bread-y things that’s ever happened here; an action and emotion-packed weekend full of food, family, friends, joy, hard work, planning, and carefully curated playlists.

All of sudden, we were serving Gino Panino sandwiches “for here” (an extremely new concept to us), heated on a commercially-installed panini press in a brand-new sandwich kitchen. Gino Panino now had a printed menu affixed to a permanent wall. It’s not that undergoing a full year of construction doesn’t make something feel permanent, there’s just something about a framed menu nailed to a wall that made us feel like there’s no turning back now.

On the wholesale side, we found that the best-selling sandwich was the Giada. Every morning we whipped up batches of egg souffle, crisped pancetta, and slathered on housemade tomato butter and Cacio e Pepe spread to make the breakfast sandwich of our dreams. It resonated with our customers and it still is our most popular wholesale sandwich.

In fact, Giada is the inspiration for this next chapter of Gino Panino. When we launched Gino Panino, in some ways we were leaning into what we know we do best, like making good food that people want to eat everyday. In another way, we were entering uncharted territory. Gino Panino was created out of a love for lunch, but we’re in the business of breakfast. We, along with most of our wholesale partners, see our highest traffic time in the mornings and our entire infrastructure is designed around breakfast.

So we’ve decided to grow our breakfast sandwich line, and discontinue some of our beloved lunch sandwiches. Our brand-new Halle breakfast sandwich (launching today, July 17th 2026) is named after Zach’s sister, and is a “basic and approachable classic - just like Halle.” A balanced on-the-go option, this new sandwich features pork sausage, scrambled egg, fancy American cheese, and a sweet-smoky-spicy chipotle aioli on our hearty White Sonora focaccia. This sandwich honors Halle, our expertise in breakfast foods, our wholesale partners’ needs, and a new phase for Rebel Bread.

The new Halle breakfast sandwich leading the way through big menu changes

We are also letting go of the Gino Panino name. Rebel Bread will take on some of the Gino Panino branding (we love Gino colors), and even some of the recipes. Formerly “Gino Panino sandwiches” will now be “Rebel Bread sandwiches” served on a variety of breads, allowing customers a tour of the unique and varied breads that Rebel Bread has to offer.

Rebel Bread has continued to grow and become more stable and we feel that Rebel Bread can handle the load and lore of Gino Panino. Rebel Bread makes pastries, breads, and sandwiches that people love to eat everyday. We feature Colorado-grown, heritage grains in all our products, giving the classics a Western edge. As always, we strive to honor the people and characters who inspire us in everything we make.

Oh, Lore: The Gino Panino Story

Let’s be Bread Friends.