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Marisa Leaf: ‘We’ve had up to 100 orders in seven days’ |
Lawyer puts case for the small shop
Delivery service aims to dent supermarkets
A LEADING barrister has launched a new food delivery service to support small specialist shops against competition from supermarkets.
Marisa Leaf, 30, who is receiving advice from Financial Times chairman Sir David Bell, is an expert in public law and the former head of the European Criminal Justice department for human rights charity Justice.
But she is standing down from the Bar in order to concentrate on her new shop-to-home delivery service, Hubbub, launched in a trial in Highbury Barn last week from an office in Britannia Row at the Angel.
The service, already swamped with orders, will eventually take goods from various small shops in the borough to customers, who order online.
With difficult financial times ahead, Marisa has left nothing to chance. She has established an advisory board made up of prominent local residents, all regular customers at small shops, including FT chairman Sir David, and the award-winning founder of organic pub the Duke of Cambridge, Geetie Singh.
Other board members include Zeenat Anjari, who founded Flaneur in Farringdon Road, Ramsey Khoury, founder and managing director of Head London web design, and Raphael Mokades, founder of Rare Recruitments.
Marisa said: “They have all agreed to help me because they are passionate about giving small shops a leg-up.
“The supermarkets have had it their own way for too long.
“One of the big problems for small shop survival has been reaching customers. We hope our service will do just that. Not all shops can afford the costs of doing their own deliveries, but we will make it simple and will travel borough-wide.”
Small specialist shops, she said, often providing locally produced foods, struggle to compete against the supermarkets and convenience stores because of high rents and draconian parking policies that deter customers.
Marisa added: “We have only been going a week but have been overwhelmed. We’ve had up to 100 orders in seven days. Everyone seems positive about the service.”
Customers can go on a website, order food from small shops participating and then pay online. The trial involves two shops, butcher F [Frank] Godfrey and deli La Fromagerie, both in Highbury Barn.
Sir David said it was a “great idea” and appeared to be working well so far.
“The advisory group have met and discussed the plight of small shops,” he said. “Islington has some great small shops and we believe this delivery scheme will help support them.
“My message to residents is to use the small shops if you don’t want to lose them, and to small shops, come and use this delivery scheme.”
Marisa said: “If there is a demand, and I believe there is, we will launch a permanent borough-wide service in the new year.
“The ultimate aim is to go London-wide, but for that we’ll need an investor. So anyone out there who wants to support small shops and would like to invest, please contact me,” she added.
She currently employs two drivers using electric vans and a marketing worker. For orders online before midday it’s a same-day service.
Currently the first delivery is free within the borough and from then on it is £2.
Hubbub (currently Highbury Barn Deliveries), at 35a Britannia Row, can be contacted on 020 7609 3351 and at www.highburybarndeliveries.co.uk |
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