When she became disillusioned with supplying the supermarkets, foodie Sangita Tryner took a leap of faith.
The result was Delilah Fine Foods, a stunning delicatessen and food bar in the heart of Nottingham city centre that was named Retailer of the Year in the 2025 Farm Shop & Deli Retailer Awards. Located in a stunning former bank, the business stocks a wide range of products including freshly baked breads, self-serve oils, more 150 cheeses, meat and charcuterie from around the world, and 200-plus wines.
“We try to echo the shopping experience of a past era when food was real and fresh, and produced in local areas by local people; not mass-produced and filled with additives and preservatives,” explains Tryner. “The whole aim of Delilah is to provide a forum for the amazing creatives that come up with the wonderful products to spread the word to the consumer.”
The business is the brain child of Sangita and her husband Rick. She looks after the day-to-day operation while he works part-time as wine buyer and ‘director of commercial sense’.
“He keeps my feet on the ground and points us in the right direction when mad passion-driven ideas get a bit too driven,” says Trynera. “His speciality is keeping our meetings on track when we fly off at foodie tangents. Equally importantly, and much more fun, he is also our wine buyer, with 20 years’ experience of the wine industry, using his knowledge to put together a range that not only excites but educates the drinker.”
Before opening Delilah, Tryner was an account manager for businesses, including Northern Foods, and worked with major multiples such as Marks & Spencer developing the ready meals category.
“My role enabled me to work with seriously talented development chefs, learn about the finest ingredients from around the world, and a serious foodie was unleashed,” she says. “However, the role also led to me eventually getting really disillusioned about the industry and the food that I was supplying into the supermarkets at the time, always compromising on ingredients and quality to meet a price point.”
Looking for a new role that would still enable her to work with food, Sangita and Rick began thinking about delicatessens and he suggested a visit to deli and wine merchants Valvona & Crolla in Edinburgh.
“It blew me away, the number of products, the way it was packed with deliciousness, the ambience created by the staff and then the café at the back of the store where you could taste things that I hadn’t even heard of,” she says.
The experience planted a seed and, with nothing like it in Nottingham, Tryner was confident they could make a similar business work. Quitting her job, the plan was for Rick – then a supply chain manager – to support them while she produced a business plan and found premises.
Tryner visited many delis, food halls and farm shops at this time, and these helped shape what would become Delilah. Inspirations included the food bar for tastings from Villandry on Great Portland Street in London, the value of impactful displays from Valvona & Crolla, Sourcing and range from Gonalston Farm Shop in Nottingham and product displays from Bill’s, when it was more deli than eatery.
“They say no idea is a new idea and I certainly bought into that and then made it my own,” she adds. “I often say Delilah is like the inside of my brain: chaos but somehow it works. I combine knowledge gleaned from my business degree, my experiences as an account manager, Guild of Fine Foods courses and from talking to the lovely John Shepherd from Partridges, who couldn’t have been more helpful.”
But finding a site proved to be difficult because of high demand for city centre property, then six months into the search Rick’s employer went into liquidation.
Fortunately for the couple, the stars were aligned, says Tryner. Rick and a former colleague launched their own business that was trading within months and Sangita found a property – albeit a small one.
“Our original home was no more than a 1,000 sq ft and that was including the kitchen and bar seating for nine people,” she says. “I often laugh that I could cook a breakfast, make a coffee and serve cheese without moving from the spot.”
It was a far cry from Delilah’s current home in Nottingham’s Victoria Street, the former HSBC bank is five times the size of the shop’s original site.
“Ironically it was the deepest recession in a generation that provided the opportunity, as Nottingham’s property market cooled off, and Delilah came of age,” Tryner explains. “We recreated the very popular food bar but also added mezzanine seating to take the total number of seats to 70 covers.”
What hasn’t changed is the business’s dedication to introducing its customers to new flavours, ingredients and cuisines. “Where possible I like to source local, but for me the most important thing has always been sourcing the best products I can find, no matter where they are produced – we have things not only from around the UK but from all across Europe.
“As Delilah has bedded in and become more established and recognised, we have been privileged to be approached regularly by budding creatives and so the shelves are constantly heaving with new things and the challenge of juggling space.”
Like the product range, the Delilah team has evolved and expanded over the decades, from five in 2005 to around 20 today.
This team, and the regular customers, are among the highlights of running the business for Sangita.
“Delilah has often been called the ‘Cheers bar’ of the deli world, because a lot of customers not only come in to eat and drink, they also come in for company and friendly banter,” she says. “This can only be created by having the right people behind the counter and this is something I’m very proud of.”
Tryner particularly calls out operations managers Ollie and Leo, who run Delilah and look after and manage the team. “They have been magnificent and so dedicated,” she adds.
The quality of service was just one of the reasons the business was named Retailer of the Year at the Farm Shop & Deli Show in April.
“The staff who are the engine and the heart behind Delilah truly deserved the recognition,” says Tryner. “The store has had a really good couple of years even with all the economic challenges hitting us from all sides.
“Winning the award, when you look at the other amazing businesses around us and hearing what our peers had to say left me speechless, even today I’m still smiling.”
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