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It's getting harder for small delis to fight off the multiples says Sarah Hardcastle
Market forces have put speciality food into a paradoxical situation - growing in response to demand from an enthusiastic public while simultaneously losing traditional small outlets.
Consumer interest in deli and speciality food has never been greater, with the availability of these products increasing all the time to meet demand.Yet the small independent retailers who are the traditional bedrock of speciality food purveying are rapidly disappearing from high streets throughout the country.
John Shepherd, managing director of Shepherd Foods and chairman of the Guild of Fine Food Retailers, reckons there might at most be 1,000 specialist deli retailers remaining. "Not many, considering there used to be thousands 40 or so years ago, and they were a feature of every town."
Competition from the multiples, and in particular their recent incursion into the independents' territory of speciality, is the principal cause of this decline, says Shepherd.
But the picture isn't all doom and gloom, for at least 20 top notch delis have opened in London in the last few years. But these shops are in a completely different class to the small, cosy,...