Britain’s Best Delis: Idle Hands Shop & Bakery, Kilmarnock

It’s always interesting to hear about the illustrious pasts of deli owners. Apart from a select few, who’ve said food retail was always their calling, the majority of foodtrepreneurs have stumbled into the sector through fate, circumstance, or the bold decision to switch career.

The latter can be applied to Morven Kerr and Piero Landi, who took on what was a legal office and studio apartment in the Scottish village of Kilmarnock in 2019, with a vision to turn it into an artisan food store.

Their combined experience, although not ‘foodie’, has brought benefits to the business, and given them a different perspective and approach. Morven’s career in fashion design and styling, and Piero’s in graphic design and illustration, mean they have an eye for aesthetics, giving them the ability to curate every detail of their business to be as visually striking and enticing as possible – from displays to branding materials. “It just comes naturally to me to make things look nice,” Morven smiles.

When the retail space became available in their village, Morven says, “Everyone was coming up to me telling me my eclairs were really good, or my cakes were really good, saying I should do a bakery there. I thought that might be quite a nice idea. And it took off really.

“What we imagined was a small bakery counter with a couple of seats for people to sit in and have a coffee and cake, and a few shelves of nicely chosen deli items. In the first couple of weeks we were so busy, and we realised that wasn’t going to be enough. We had to do more – and fast!”

Changing course

As Morven’s already said, they were inundated at the start of the Idle Hands journey – largely because there was nothing quite like it in the area. They quite quickly had to think on their feet and change tact to ensure they could serve as many people as possible.

“At the beginning, we thought it would be a struggle to sell enough cakes in the week to pay all the bills,” Morven laughs. “And we had enough space to hold small classes for teaching French, Spanish and Italian, serving cakes in the break. That was such a nice thing to do, but we realised we didn’t have the time to continue. The way the bakery and deli side of things took off meant we had to focus on them.

Idle Hands’ food-to-go operation is purely takeaway, focusing on preparing the best, in small batches, from sweet treats, to savoury temptations, largely made by them, or supplemented with products from local makers they admire. “People come in for our fresh cannoli, our doughnuts and our eclairs. We have a few Italian-style cakes too, like Amalfi pear cake.”

Customers adore their homemade Italian sausage rolls, cheese tart (using up what needs to be used from the deli), spanakopita, and filled sandwiches and bagels.

Then there’s the bread, made by them and two other bakers. “We could never make the amount we sell in the time and space we have,” Morven explains. “Most popular is probably our rye sourdough, but we’re finding actually people are moving away from sourdough a bit, and going for our ciabattas and big brown sandwich breads.”

Like others, Morven and Piero have witnessed first-hand the rising interest in cafe culture and ‘little treat moments’ from consumers. “People are almost doing bakery crawls,” Morven says. “They’ll pick a different destination bakery and go there to try their pastries and cakes, then the following weekend it’s somewhere else. I think that’s a nice way to spend the day! We’re certainly busy!”

Stacking shelves

The couple took a ‘gently gently’ approach to stocking the deli side of Idle Hands at the start – largely because of the growth and rapid success of the bakery and takeaway.

There were a few cheeses and cured meats, which have gradually been built upon as they’ve gotten to understand what it is customers are looking for, and what they like best, Morven says. “We’ve got three fridges of cheeses and meats, tending to have a lot of British cheese and largely European – Italian and Spanish – charcuterie. We know you can get thinks like Mozzarella in the UK now, but we’re focusing on products with DOP and PDO, buying the very best. So, Burrata from Puglia, and Prosciutto di Parma.”

On the cheese side of things Pitchfork Cheddar has been brilliant for the shop, with other top sellers being Cashel Blue and Alp Blossom. These must-haves are always in stock.

As for what’s on the shelves, Morven says they don’t buy local just for the sake of it. Being a relatively small outfit, space is limited, so whatever they choose, has to be really really good. “Blackthorn Sea Salt is local to us and is brilliant. And we met someone from Blowin’ Free Gin, not realising she was so local – just a few miles down the road from us. They distill their own gin with botanicals and fruits grown on their own farm. That’s quite special, and did really well for us at Christmas!”

Morven has a thing for Poon’s Chilli Vinegar Dressing, and chutneys and pickles from the Tracklements range, which are smeared and slathered into their sandwiches. “People will often ask what they can buy here to recreate their sandwich at home, and they’ll go away with our bread, a chutney, maybe some cured meat and olives. That really works for us.”

Torres crisps sell very well for Idle Hands too. As do Perello olives, and Edinburgh’s COCO chocolate. The couple only wish they could access some of their favourite products as freely as they once used to. Rules and prices since Brexit have made it harder and harder, they say, to import small value goods, with margins decimated. “We love Café-Tasse from Belgium, but the numbers don’t add up for us to buy their products any more so we’ve had to let that brand go,” Morven continues. “It’s a shame, because we love what they do.”

A new way of life

It’s clear both Morven and Piero have genuine passion for their shop. Morven puts that down, largely, to people. “Everyone is really nice. Our staff, and our customers. That does make it an enjoyable job because we can see people appreciate what we do. It’s nice to hear how complimentary they are. When you’ve been on your feet for eight hours, it keeps you going!”

The future of speciality retail, she adds, will come down to constantly striving to create the best customer experience. But you’ll also only succeed, she believes, if your heart is in the right place. It’s a vocation, not a job, and it’s something that should excite you and make you want to get out of bed every day.

“There are long hours, and it can be mentally draining. You’ve got to get into it because you enjoy food and community and people. If you do that, you’ll be successful. You also need to have a strong instinct for what suits you and the customers in your area, to stand out and bring something special to your neighbourhood, and I think that’s just what we’ve been able to do.”