DELI OF THE MONTH

A dedication to hunting down the finest fresh fruit and vegetables, affable customer service, and a raconteur owner are all part of the unique formula at Andreas of Chelsea Green. It's this mix that has marked the shop out as...

Interview by Tom Dale

...‘The Chanel of veg’

IT’S THE HOTTEST DAY of the year so far when FFD visits Andreas of Chelsea Green. The shop’s owner Andreas Georghiou is outside the small West London store greeting customers with jovial banter and making the most of the sun before a spell of bad weather is due the following day.

This scene, as it turns out, perfectly encapsulates the high-end greengrocer’s approach to running his business in the current unpredictable climate. An absolute dedication to the needs of the customer and prudent preparation while times are good are what has elevated the boy who quit his A-levels to work in his uncle’s Chiswick grocer to selling handpicked French beans to the rich and famous.

Nestled in a small square in the affluent area of Chelsea, Andreas’ ornate and welltended displays of fruit and vegetables – which extend out onto the pavement in classic style – immediately speak of the quality of produce Georghiou stocks. “There are no three-for-apound bowls here.”

“We are veg-led,” says the owner, “It’s our number one thing, so we only want the best of the best.”

And it shows. The selection in his displays is superlative. The finest French cherries, Romanesco courgettes, punnets of fresh berries – which make up as much as 33% of turnover in the summer – and leafy Sicilian lemons are just some of the vast selection of fresh produce that Georghiou and his staff of just 10 have managed to stuff into this tiny 14.2 sq m shop.

To complement the fresh produce, there is a carefully selected range of ambient products – including high-end pasta brand Pastificio dei Campi and Great Taste-winning Maters honey – and a selection of pre-packed cheeses and charcuterie, alongside other chilled lines.

This, says the owner, is the result of doing the “hard yards” for nearly 29 years since opening his first greengrocers in Chiswick; travelling to the Continent and developing relationships with growers and suppliers in the search of “the best fruit and veg on the planet”.

“When we started, I always knew there was more to fruit and veg than what was available back then,” says Georghiou. “So, we went looking. We started in France and then went to Italy and started making crazy relationships with growers and wholesalers in the markets over there.”

And these relationships have borne fruit

VITAL STATISTICS

Location: 4 Cale St, Chelsea Green, London SW3 3QU Average spend (pre-COVID): £32 Average spend (current): £45 Retail floorspace: 14.2 sq m Number of lines: 1,200 Tomato varieties: 18

MUST-STOCKS

Extensive range of fresh tomatoes

Andreas by Campo Lisio Olive Oil – Primofiore Pastificio Dei Campi Pasta I Sapori di Corbara jarred tomatoes English Asparagus

Avocados

for the business, not only in the exclusive and sought-after varieties found on Andreas of Chelsea Green’s shelves. Meeting growers and developing personal relationships with suppliers also provided the owner with the unique stories of each product – something Georghiou says is key to selling the lines he does.

Back in the ’90s when he first set out on his own in the trade, he says these “more interesting” varieties were being bought in for restaurants, but not retail.

“You can’t just plonk some of this stuff on the shelves – it only works if someone is telling the story.”

He tells FFD that because of this, he decided to get closer to his suppliers. “Then every time we sold something in the shop, we’d have that backstory to tell. It would make it an easier sell and then those people would go and tell their friends at their dinner parties.”

This understanding of his somewhat unique customer base is evident across Georghiou’s operation. From the way he hand-sorts the store’s juicing oranges so they are the correct size for juicing machines to the shift to largely stocking organic produce eight years ago, everything is driven by what his customers want.

And with a client list rivalled – as he says – only by shops in Monaco in terms of exclusivity, it certainly seems wise.

“We’re not obsessed with new things, we’re not obsessed with profit, we’re obsessed with giving customers what they want,” he says.

But it’s not always so one-way. The shop’s selection of cheeses all come pre-cut and in relatively small packs. With very small retail space, this is a decision partly based on necessity, but, says Georghiou, it also plays into his customers’ desires.

“People in Chelsea think they’re very time-poor,” he says. “They’re not, but you have to feed into that and offer them convenience.” That said, time is a precious commodity for a large tranche of his customers: live-in or personal chefs to some of the Capital’s richest residents.

Georghiou tells FFD that this quick service also suits his business well. With a small shop like this, and 150-200 customers to get through a day, it doesn’t pay to hang around. Despite being swift, you don’t get the sense anyone is rushed through the buying experience.

With COVID restrictions, customers are limited to two in the shop at any time, and each has a dedicated member of staff to help them through their visit and make recommendations, something which the owner intends on retaining after the pandemic recedes.

Average basket spend is up from £32 prepandemic to £45 and this, he says, is because, with fewer people in the shop, the customer can see everything on offer in the “cosy” store.

Coronavirus, as for many others in food retail, has been kind to the business. While the increase in spend is one measure, the delay to the impact of Brexit has been another major boon to the greengrocer.

Because he is a small-scale food importer, the UK’s exit from the EU is something that has troubled Georghiou since the outcome was announced in 2016. As a result, the businessman tightened his belt to make the operation strong enough to withstand the

Andreas by Campo Lisio Olive Oil - Delicato Mangoes

French Peaches Prosciutto Arrosto by Cypressi in Chianti French Tulameen Raspberries French Blueberries Andreas by Campo Lisio Olive Oil - Peperoncino

unknown. “We were short-staffed when we shouldn’t have been and we didn’t renew vehicles when we should have,” he says.

While the change in shopping habits brought on by COVID has helped, Andreas of Chelsea Green hasn’t been immune. Costs have increased almost across the board, says Georghiou, and he has decided to absorb these.

Jarred tomatoes from I Sapori di Corbara are one of the shop’s top sellers – which naturally Georghiou has a story about involving volcanic soils and magical sea mist – and are increasing in cost price by about £1 per jar due to increased customs duties, a significant tranche of the margin.

But the tenacious owner is not deterred. “I’ll just go back to doing what I do best,” he says. “Sourcing stuff that’s brilliant but also profitable.”

For Georghiou, though, it’s not always about the bottom line. There are some products that the owner simply has to have, despite them not generating any profit, like the first cherries of the season.

“They come in at £125 a kilo, and so I’ll sell them at cost because I've got to have them. That’s just indulgence and preserving the image of the shop.”

He is also not interested in expanding into more sites. The business formerly operated across two stores – Chelsea and Chiswick –but Georghiou closed the original Chiswick shop to focus on Chelsea.

“If you get this shop right you won’t need another shop,” he says, citing the importance of a personal relationship with customers which fosters trust.“If you want them to be just profit ventures, then sure, but for us, it’s all about good service, quality of produce and the happiness of our customers.”

This doesn’t mean that the owner is lacking in ambition or vision for the future, though. He has a hush-hush plan for the autumn which he says will mark Andreas of Chelsea Green out as “the Chanel of veg” and is set to open a bakery venture on the Green with another local businessman.

The move will allow the shop to shift its fresh bread offer and some other lines to open up more room to focus further on its fresh produce, as well as grow the Chelsea Green area as a destination.

Something that comes up repeatedly when FFD speaks with Georghiou, is that profit is not the business’s first concern, quality is. And this is what the veteran of fruit and veg puts the success of his business down to.

“We’re not obsessed with turnover, but we are obsessed with quality, giving our customers exactly what they want and excellent service, and the turnover and the profit have come with that.”

And this absolute dedication to his clientele has led Georghiou, who left school at 17 and fell into a job at his uncle’s greengrocers, to selling fruit and vegetables in one of the most exclusive districts on earth to a group of customers that includes many famous names and some of the richest people on the planet. Not only that but he is keeping them happy, too.

“No-one dreams of being a greengrocer when they’re at school,” he says. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t make it interesting.”

andreasveg.co.uk

We’re not obsessed with new things, we’re not obsessed with profit, we’re obsessed with giving customers what they want