Located in Barry’s bustling High Street, Kevin and Jane Mullane truly have a winner on their hands. As you’d expect from Kevin and Jane Mullane, this fab deli has specialness written large.

In a rare quiet moment for Kevin, we enjoyed one of his now infamous lattes and had a chat about how things were going and his plans for the Vanilla.

Kevin, congratulations on the opening of Vanilla.
How are things going?
Thanks, things are going extremely well. We are seeing more and more new faces as well as regulars. We must be getting it right as they keep coming back, which is great.

What made you choose High Street as a venue for Vanilla?
High Street has always had a good reputation as a great place to shop, with its quality eateries and boutiques, so there’s always been a need for businesses like ours. Now that there are a few more quality shops opening like Bryl’s Boutique and Amorette to name just a couple, we felt that there was even more of a need. We had already built up a really good reputation for ourselves with our sister delicatessen, Thyme Out in Dinas Powys, so we thought we’d bite the bullet and open up in High Street.

We are probably one of your best latte customers,
why is your coffee is so good?
We pride ourselves on our coffee. We only use the best 100% Arabica Italian roasted coffee beans to create our own unique Vanilla blend. We recently had a trained barrister in for the day to train our staff in the art of coffee and to perfect our own technique, we’re that passionate about it.

What else is proving popular?
Mornings are good as early shoppers pop in for a coffee and a croissant, pastry or one of our home made scones before they hit the shops. The mad rush then truly kicks in around 11.30am as customers know to come in then to get a seat for lunch. They love our freshly made baguettes and paninis with fillings made from produce from the deli. We’ve also got a daily specials board which usually has a home made soup and a hot dish of the day, which is proving very popular. Then we have the afternoon teas which is where our delicious patisseries are gaining a fan base.

Your shelves are pretty stocked, what do you offer?
I have a real passion for local good quality produce, especially if it’s organic. I will only cook with it myself. Our Artisan breads are very special. We are the only local stockists of Heavenly Ice Cream, which is made in Llandeilo. We also stock famous Welsh brands such as Calon Lan Oils from Anglesey, Village Dairy Welsh organic yoghurts, Uncle Roy Gold Taste Award winner Essential herb oils, Balsamic cherry and cherry cocoa bean dessert relish, Stokes coronation sauce, and the fantastic Tea Pigs earl grey called Tea Temples which is made from silk Darjeeling tea and only uses the tips of the tea leaf and Atkins and Potts Balsamic Jelly.

Anything special for the festive season?
Yes for the chocolate lovers, we have Hachez and Van Collie chocolates which have to be tasted to be believed. We also offer Christmas hampers which we can deliver to your door. Basically you choose your baskets and your products and we’ll delivery anywhere in Barry. If you live outside of Barry, there’s a £5 delivery charge. These hampers start from £30 and can make an ideal gift for someone who enjoys the finer things in life or for yourself!

Are you planning to introduce anything else?
We are planning to introduce an all day organic breakfast, using only the best ingredients.

Good service is everything in this business, would you agree?
Yes, absolutely. We ask our customers what they require and whenever possible give them what they want.

It’s all about giving people good service, which is what we try and do here and hopefully we achieve it! That’s my philosophy.

We also have a Welsh speaker working here as we have quite a few Welsh speaking customers.

Do you do outside catering as well?
Yes, we are able to cater for up to fifty people and we can cater for all kinds of events.

At Thyme Out you supported the Jamie Adamson Memorial Fund.
Are you doing that at Vanilla?
Yes, the JAM fund touched all our hearts here and is a charity we continue to support. We’re providing them with a Christmas Hamper to help them raise much needed funds.

If any Vale Life readers would like to help with the fund, please visit www.jamfund.co.uk All the information will be there on how they can offer their support.