A former chef turned deli owner will soon celebrate a year in business, and has great plans for getting good food to more people, finds Rosalind Erskine.
At some point, a lot of us have questioned our working pattern and career trajectory. Years can go by without change, and sometimes you have to create the change you want for yourself.
That’s the position Rob Aitken found himself in a year ago when he decided he no longer wanted to be a chef. Having worked in hospitality since he was a teenager - and travelled all over the world - he decided he no longer wanted to work nights, but he still wanted to work around good food.
Sign up to our free Scran food and drink newsletter here
He said: “I was a chef for a long time, for about 15 years and I decided that I didn’t want to do that anymore, which happened quite suddenly.”
Having worked for the Scoop Restaurant Group in their restaurants Margo, Ka Pao and Ox and Finch in Glasgow, Fonab Castle in Pitlochry and further afield, including in New Zealand where he met his wife Anna-Lena, Rob was ready to move into something new yet still food related.
He said: “I knew I wanted to stay within food; talking about food, being around nice food and around people who enjoy good food but I really didn’t want to work in the evenings anymore. It was from that decision that Kramer’s was born.”
Kramer’s is an artisan deli located on Hyndland Road in Glasgow’s west end, and it opened in February 2026. It is not, as I had imagined, named after the Seinfeld character of the same name but it’s Rob’s wife’s maiden name.
He said: “We looked at the shop around the time we were getting married and we were discussing whose name to keep and Anna was like ‘I want to take your name.’ Then I came up with the idea that we’d name the shop after her. Plus Kramer kind of means shop owner in German in the way they have occupational work names as well. From what I understand it’s someone that owns a junk shop. A lot of people think it’s Seinfeld or Kramer vs Kramer but no it’s Anna’s maiden name.”
Located in a former clothing store in an area that’s full of independent businesses, this wasn’t Rob and Anna’s first choice of location but it has worked out better than hoped.
Rob said: “I always loved going to delis and I always loved being around food and so when this unit came up, we weren't expecting it to come up and we’d given up on looking for something. We’d also been looking at grade three units, which are premises with a licence for hot food, and there’s just nothing. But this is perfect for us, as it is.
“We looked everywhere. We live in the southside; I grew up around here. I know this area and I know the southside. There’s already a couple of really good places like Starter Culture in the southside. A couple of units came up close to that, but that was too close. We didn’t really take the west end seriously until we saw this unit and I thought it was perfect - it’s an ideal shape and size - plus it’s such a nice area.”
Inside there are shelves stocked with dried goods, crisps, tinned good, coffee, olive oil, pasta; a fridge full of cheeses, milk, charcuteries and homemade meals; shelves in the window full of seasonal fruit and veg and a huge table in the middle with more packets and jars. At the till there’s some home baking and there’s always a pot of coffee on the go. It’s like something straight out of a Nigella or Nigel Slater TV programme.
The rule of what makes the shelves and what doesn’t, said Rob, is simply what he and Anna find delicious and, as a former chef, he has a disconcerting palette. He said: “The inspiration was just wanting to be around good food, and we wanted to have something different from other retailers. Not that there’s anything wrong with other retailers but a lot of them have all the same stuff.
“We wanted to make sure that we had the best of the best so one of the first things we sought after was Mancini pasta because if we were going to stock pasta it has to be the best pasta. We’ve used that rule as we go so, for example, if we’re going to have olive oil then it needs to be really good.
“Everything on the shelves has to be as good as it can be even if it’s difficult to source and inconsistent. There are disappointed people all the time who come in looking for something and we’ve not got it but we’ll hold out for the better products rather than just to fill the shelves.”
While there are Scottish products in Kramer’s - such as Ardfern’s black pudding - the vast majority is European, specially from Spain, France and Italy. That’s just happenstance, said Rob, as these countries make “such good produce.”
As Kramer’s turns one in 2027, Rob and Anna are always open to suggestions from customers, such as stocking bread, milk and eggs when they first opened. “We were so stupid to open without that. Why we opened without those things I don’t know,” said Rob.
This feedback from regular customers have led Rob and Anna to launch a meal prep service which is now live and is already being used by customers. “We’re expanding the website into offering subscriptions and click and collect and one of the subscriptions will be meal prep, but bougie. It won’t be pasta with mince, it’ll be things that we have in the fridge already. Really good ingredients all made by a chef, nice and fresh. People can pick up on a Sunday and have meals for the week,” he said.
There are also plans for more pop-ups, after a successful night cooking at nearby coffee shop and bar 1841. Rob said: “We want to do more and more. We want to make Kramer’s more of a brand than just a shop. We want to have Kramer’s meal prep, catering and be a merchant of good food across as many mediums as we can.”