SHOP TALK IF I’D KNOWN THEN WHAT I KNOW NOW... PARUL CHAUHAN, social media & PR manager, Lily’s Deli, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester Opening a deli had been part of our long-term plan for years, but when our restaurant, Lily’s Vegetarian Cuisine in Ashton-under-Lyne, was forced to close for three months last year, it made sense to diversify. The restaurant attracts people from all over Manchester and we have supplied the Unicorn Grocery in Chorlton for years, so when premises came up there, everything fell into place. We’re a family business and my nephews are both directors. My mum, who is known as Lily, and dad started the business as an Indian sweet shop in 1972. The family later opened a cash & carry, which was expanded to include the restaurant 13 years ago. When we opened the deli in November 2020, my nephews arranged the planning and construction work – that was more challenging and costly than we had anticipated. We also put in a seating area that we then couldn’t use immediately because of COVID, so we had to adapt to operating as a deli with take-outs. All our food is made fresh in our restaurant kitchen every morning and brought over to Chorlton. We offer a broad variety of authentic vegan and vegetarian Indian food, some still made according to mum’s original recipes. When we were growing up vegan food wasn’t heard of, now we have benefitted from its rise to popularity simply by giving people the opportunity to try the food we were raised on. People can buy vegan paneer curry or daal with chapatis to take home and heat up. Now we can offer eat-in again, we have a few tables for people to sit down with a cup of masala tea and a couple of our street chaats. We also sell a range of vegan cashew and pistachio sweets. In addition to all the specialities we cook in-house, we sell a large selection of ambient groceries, such as spices, lentils, flour and rice. This has been a bit of a learning curve. As my brother used to run the cash & carry, we tasked him with sourcing the groceries. I think he got a bit carried away because we ended up with far too many different versions of the same item. We had five or six chilli powders alone. We have since trimmed down our range so people still have a choice but it is much easier to manage. The deli has been open less than 12 months but already we are planning our next opening: Lily’s Deli in Ancoats, next to Manchester’s Northern Quarter, towards the end of the year. We have also been shortlisted for the Manchester Food & Drink Awards, so these are exciting times. Interview Lynda Searby Photography Matt Lawrence
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September-October 2021 | Vol.22 Issue 8
NORTH OF ENGLAND SPECIAL
