Name: Ian Kavanagh

Business name: Black Forest Deli

Opening hours: Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday from 9am until 3pm

When did you open your business and why?

WE OPENED in August 2019 and started trading on the market. We originally lived in Essex but my wife moved up here for work purposes, and I had some work myself, but we thought of opening a shop as well.

Our idea was to open a shop which sells German foods – my wife’s German, so it’s something we know a lot about.

So we opened it up and found a place to trade on the market quite easily and started an online store as well.

Why in this location?

WE MOVED up here for work as I mentioned, but we were originally looking to operate out of the outdoor market. We spoke to David Clough and he suggested taking on an indoor stall.

We had a discussion and we thought it was so reasonable that we would take it on. It was a no-brainer really.

Tell us about your business

WE SPECIALISE in German deli products, which I suppose is quite unique, especially as some of our suppliers are butchers who are actually from the Black Forest.

All our meats are not mass-produced. Our sausages, smoked meats and sliced meats are made by butchers in Germany.

We are also expanding and will be offering German veg and desserts soon. It is all authentic and supplied by people in Germany.

We do have new customers who try our food from time to time, but our main demographic is German expatriates, ex-servicemen who served in Germany and people who like to holiday in Germany or have friends or family there.

We also sell standard German grocery food like mustards and cooking sauces as well as the meats. We have German sweets, chocolate and biscuits too, so we offer pretty much everything you would expect to find in a German grocery store.

We do have regular customers. We had acquired a customer base at the start of the year and then lockdown happened, so when we initially reopened at the market, we found a lot of customers weren’t coming back as much.

But as restrictions have been lifted, we have found most of our customers are coming back out and coming to see us which is good.

Working on the market is great for meeting people and we get talking to people about their stories from living and working in Germany.

What is your proudest moment?

I THINK one of our proudest moments was when we did Oswestry Live last year.

We were offering Glühwein and Schnapps and people really seemed to enjoy it. It was nice to be able to talk to customers in a more social setting at an event like that.

Any strange requests?

I CAN’T think of too many – I remember a customer once asked us if there was mustard in our mustard, which there is, because it’s mustard.

Looking back, I think they were asking for a mustard alternative.