Speciality Food Magazine - April 2026

first couple of weekswewere so busy, andwe realised thatwasn’t going to be enough.We had to do more – and fast!” Changing course As Morven’s already said, theywere inundated at the start of the Idle Hands journey – largely because therewas 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 itwould be a struggle to sell enough cakes in the week to pay all the bills,”Morven laughs. “Andwe had enough space to hold small classes for teaching French, Spanish and Italian, serving cakes in the break. Thatwas such a nice thing to do, butwe realisedwe didn’t have the time to continue. Theway the bakery and deli side of things took offmeantwe had to focus on them. I t’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, themajority 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 onwhatwas a legal office and studio apartment in the Scottish village of Dunlop 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 brandingmaterials. “It just comes naturally tome tomake things look nice,”Morven smiles. When the retail space became available in their village, Morven says, “Everyonewas coming up to me tellingmemy eclairswere really good, ormy cakeswere really good, saying I should do a bakery there. I thought thatmight be quite a nice idea. And it took off really. “Whatwe imaginedwas a small bakery counterwith 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 Idle Hands’ food to-go operation is purely takeaway, focusing on preparing the best, in small batches, from sweet treats, to savoury temptations, largelymade by them, or supplementedwith 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 upwhat 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 nevermake the amountwe sell in the time and spacewe 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 havewitnessed first-hand the rising interest in cafe culture and ‘little treatmoments’ 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 followingweekend it’s somewhere else. I think that’s a niceway 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. Therewere a fewcheeses and curedmeats,which have gradually been built upon as they’ve gotten to understand what it is customers are looking for, andwhat they like best, Morven says. “We’ve got three fridges of cheeses andmeats, tending to have a lot of British 52 Britain's Best Delis: Idle Hands Shop & Bakery Speciality Food chats to the owners of Idle Hands, which has filled a void and brought joy to locals in a Scottish village People are almost doing bakery crawls. 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!