The Norfolk Deli takes food and drink seriously. “We’re a proper delicatessen,” says co-founder Mark Kacary, explaining that 98% of the space in the shop is devoted to food and drink. “We sell drinks and sandwiches to take away but do not dilute our offering with gifts, postcards, tea towels and what many other businesses feel is necessary.”
It is a strategy that is clearly working. The deli’s website features effusive testimonials from customers, and the business has won a host of accolades including the 2024 Farm Shop & Deli Retailer Awards’ Anglia regional prize and delicatessen of the year title.
The Norfolk Deli began trading 10-and-a-half years ago, when Kacary and his wife, Rosie, took over the Wine Cellar & Deli in Hunstanton on the west Norfolk coast. Mark had a background in IT sales and marketing, while Rosie had previously been a food hall manager for Dobies.
The couple felt the store was being under-utilised. “It was more of an off-licence than it was a deli, and our mantra in the early days was less wine cellar, more deli,” says Kacary.
The ethos of the couple’s business was clear from its beginnings: “A deli that would specialise in the sourcing and supporting of produce from small local Norfolk businesses.”
At the time, the Norfolk food scene was in the early stages of its development and its explosion of small producers, particularly gin producers, was still some years off.
Today, around 70% of the items stocked in the shop are made in Norfolk, and most are sourced directly from the producer. All the alcoholic drinks are made in Norfolk, and the business claims to stock all the cheeses made in the county.
“We are more of a cheesemonger than we are your average deli, and we are more of a deli than your average cheesemonger,” says Kacary.
Local sourcing has played a role in how the business has survived in a seaside resort with just 4,000 residents, he adds. “People going on holiday look for items from the local area. If we had two near-identical products I can guarantee the product that has ‘Made in Norfolk’ on the packaging would outsell the other by as much as 10 to one.”
Local sourcing helps to ensure The Norfolk Deli product range is different from supermarkets’, Kacary says. “Furthermore, we know who makes it, how they make it, where they make it and often where they get the ingredients from.”
The range isn’t the only thing to have changed since the Kacarys took over the shop. They have changed the layout “at least 10 times” and the exterior look of the shop twice.
They have also expanded by opening The Norfolk Deli Café three doors away from the deli, which makes everything sold in the café, including cakes, traybakes, salads, sausage rolls and quiches.
“We also hold cheese pairing evenings every two months in the café, and have held gin tasting evenings,” says Kacary.
Online retail has been a big part of the success of The Norfolk Deli, and ensured the business survived during the pandemic.
The website has an area called the Norfolk’s Online Farmer’s Market that was developed to enable users to shop a range of locally made products. As well as allowing customers to buy from a number of producers without paying postage multiple times, it also offers a range of hampers featuring Norfolk food and drink.
Local producers also have an opportunity to promote their products in real life through the shop’s Showcase Saturday events.
“In 2015 we recognised the growth in farmers’ markets and started Showcase Saturday, where existing and new-to-market Norfolk producers could test their products with real live customers,” explains Kacary.
The couple’s dedication to local producers and their local community was highlighted this year when they decided to take action to reinvigorate the Hunstanton high street. This resulted in the shop organising the first West Norfolk Seasonal Food & Drink Festival, which took place in March. “With approximately 40 Norfolk food and drink businesses we filled the high street and brough much-needed footfall to town.”
Community spirit, drive and innovation were among the reasons The Norfolk Deli was named Anglia regional winner and delicatessen of the year at the 2024 Farm Shop & Deli Retailer Awards earlier this year.
“This type of recognition is very satisfying and very welcome,” says Kacary. “Its greatest benefit is that it is a personal recognition that the industry likes what we do. It sees the efforts we make, it understands what we have done to innovate or to make our business stand out from the crowd.”
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