Mum and daughter deli duo find recipe for success with Edinburgh deliveries

Owning their own deli has always been a dream for mother and daughter partnership Deborah and Emma Gibson.
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But ten years since they first opened their doors, the duo said it was the pandemic that helped them find the recipe for success.

After introducing a delivery service last year, Bonnington Brunch saw turnover more than double in ten months.

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The pandemic has proved to be a huge turning point for the family outfit, as the boom in business has helped them secure finance to buy their premises on Bonnington Road.

Business is booming at Bonnington BrunchBusiness is booming at Bonnington Brunch
Business is booming at Bonnington Brunch

And the pair have expanded their team to nine, including Emma’s sister and after taking on five part-time workers to meet the demand for the hugely popular breakfasts and lunch deliveries.

Serving up a wide range of breakfast, lunch, beverages, cakes and snacks the independent deli is open 6 days a week and is now trading on Just-Eat and Uber-Eats too.

The hands-on team regularly gets creative and posts videos of their menu options and specials on Facebook and TikTok.

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Co-owner Emma said the challenges of covid-19 restrictions helped her and mum Deborah think differently about their trading model.

Mum-of-two Emma said;

"It’s been great to see the business growing. In a way it forced us to come up with the delivery option, to keep us going. We hadn’t thought of it before, we focused on takeaways. It’s great to see new menu options take off, like the salt and chilli chicken. Since this time last year we have given 5 people jobs. We are all trained to do cooking and all the tasks so we all pitch in and we have a chef that helps out.”

“I was really surprised we got the funding to take on the premises. It has been a struggle for businesses to get funding in the pandemic so I really didn’t expect it. I’d like to thank Dean and Lauren at Watts for their hard work in securing the finance for us. We wouldn’t have managed this without them. This funding will give us long term security at the premises and we are excited about the future for our business.”

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