Truffles delicatessen

A visit to the spectacularly stocked Truffles deli, situated in the heart of Ross, has become a must for locals and visitors alike. Full of high quality - and largely locally sourced - produce, the deli also provides a take-away sandwich service that's proved just as popular as the traditional products.

Truffles was opened in November 2003 by Richard Mayo, who built the business from scratch, taking over an empty shop in the town centre. 'I just wanted to be my own boss,' he says. 'I'd lived in Ross for about six years so I knew the area, and I just saw that there was an opportunity there. I was visiting food fairs and things like that and realised that you just couldn't get this sort of stuff in Ross.'

He had been sending off for supplier catalogues out of interest when the premises suddenly became available. 'I had some money from a property sale and wanted to put it to good use,' he said. 'But I was still quite hesitant. Finally the landlord said 'do you want it or not?' and that was that.'

Working together with his wife Hayley, Truffles had a comparatively slow start, as is the case with most new food businesses. 'To begin with we paid ourselves low wages, but it really came good in the end,' he says. 'For the first 18 months or so it was just the deli side, but more and more people were suggesting we did deli-style sandwiches to take away so we decided to try it out. From there it just snowballed - the sandwiches represent about half of the business now.'

As any visitor to Truffles with tell you, the shop can get incredibly busy at lunchtimes. 'It's very, very labour intensive,' says Richard. 'A lot of sandwich shops will buy their ingredients in pre-prepared and basically just open the boxes, but we don't do that - we prepare everything on site.'

The business now has three full-time and two part-time staff, plus Richard and his wife, who also live above the shop. So what are the best things about trading in Rye?

'The location, the tourist trade in the summer months and the people,' he says. 'It's almost like a village atmosphere - everyone knows everyone else to say hello to.Then there's the transport links, which are second to none - we get a huge amount of passing trade from people on their way to Wales stopping off for something to eat.'

So what would his advice be to anyone thinking of making a go of it in Ross? 'Don't think about it - just do it,' he says. 'You won't regret it.'

www.trufflesdeli.co.uk