Michelle Steele, Earsham St Delicatessen, ready with customer orders for collection.

There’s been a renaissance of sorts along Earsham Street over the last 15 years with high quality grocers, boutiques and niche retailers finding their home along either side of the road in the quieter western corner Bungay.

Earsham Street Deli is arguably one of the most popular destinations for any discerning food-lover, not just those living in the town but across the whole of the Waveney Valley and even further afield.

The fact that customers come from far and wide is a tribute to the deserved reputation Michelle Steele and her team have worked hard to build over the last 13 years. It’s a credit to Michelle that what began a few doors down in modest premises (with mum Elaine often helping out, as now) is today a beautiful, spacious award-winning store that serves a wide, loyal and happy customer base year round.

Michelle amongst the Aladdin’s cave of goodies that is Earsham St Deli.

Who are you and what’s the name of your business?

Michelle Steele, Earsham Street Deli

Where are you based and how long have you been in business?

Bungay, Suffolk. 13 years

Tell us the story of why and how you started…

It was one of those ‘planets aligned’ scenarios… I’d finished uni and was starting to look for a ‘career’. My previous work experience and part time jobs had all been focussed around retail and food, and the opportunity to own the deli in its original smaller premises presented itself, and I just went for it. It wasn’t something I had ever planned, but I soon realised it was definitely what I was destined to be doing.

What would you normally be doing at this time of year and how is it different under the current lockdown situation?

Usually we would be re-merchandising after a busy Easter, and creating a shopping experience centred around the upcoming Bank holidays, summer months and picnic season. At this time of the year we really start to notice more and more visitors, and of course we’d be getting ready for the Bungay Garden Street Market. Instead, we’re not currently operating as a shop in the usual way. We’re only ‘open’ for the collection of orders which have been placed via phone or email, so we haven’t actually let anyone inside the building for six weeks! We’re also offering a delivery service, which again has taken the ‘shopping’ out of the process.

Michelle Steele, owner of Earsham St Delicatessen beside her newly installed customer pick-up point.

What challenges have you faced and how have you met them in order to keep business moving?

Our biggest challenge from the offset has been how to keep getting the good food to our customers in the safest possible way. We took pretty drastic measures very early on, because we wanted to keep our customers safe, and also I have a brilliant team that I need to keep well. This has meant a big ask from our customers; to change their way of shopping with us for the time-being. We’re grateful that all the systems have been really well received and seem to be working for us all.

Our other challenge has been that the deli is of course full with products with best before and use-by dates, so we’ve had to consider how to make sure as much gets out the door to you as possible. We’ve made some charitable donations as well as including ‘gifts’ in orders, to ensure there is minimal waste. There have been some issues sourcing certain products as demand has increased so dramatically, so maintaining stock levels and making sure we meeting our customers’ needs has involved a lot of extra work logistically. This has meant trying to keep everyone informed as much as possible, a lot of it over the phone to customers who don’t use social media or email.. all very time consuming but we’ve been more than happy to be able to make that extra effort in these strange times.

Have you discovered any benefits or positive effects of this new way of thinking about your business?

This whole process has given me the chance to take a step back from the business as I know it and be more objective than ever about what we do, so we’re really evaluating our product range, layout, and some of the smaller day to day details. It has also allowed us to ‘dip our toe’ into offering a mail order or delivery side to the deli, which is something I’ve never really wanted to do, but now I’m more of the opinion “never say never!”.

What are you looking forward to most when this ends?

I can’t wait for my fellow traders in Bungay and especially on Earsham Street to return, because I miss our little community so much! I also can’t wait to go back into a pub or restaurant for dinner for the first time. So many of the little things will no longer be taken for granted!

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LOCAL FOOD HEROES - EARSHAM ST DELICATESSEN