I visited mmm… in the Grainger Arcade in Newcastle recently. It’s that most precious of independent retailers: a fantastic food shop with a mission to connect small food producers from ‘close to home’ with consumers.

I’ve been following Tweets from the husband and wife team Simone and Ian Clarkin for the last six months or so. Here, Ian tells me about the business and how they’ve used Twitter (@mmm_newcastle) to engage with customers, build their brand, generate sales and all sorts of serendipitous connections.

Stephen Waddington (SW): Tell us about your business and why you Tweet?

Ian Clarkin (IC): mmm… is a deli based in Newcastle’s Grainger Market. We are Newcastle’s leading supporter of local food producers and currently sell over 150 locally-sourced foods. The business was started two-and-a-half years ago by my wife, Simone.

SW: What impact has Twitter had on your business?

IC: Simone devotes her entire week to the business, with support from me – though I work as a marketing manager for another local business as well. We could both could see the importance of having an online presence, but having the time to do anything was an issue.

We created a basic website (which will be changing to something that looks more like a blog soon) and it was only after looking at Twitter that the benefits of something that was quick, easy and immediate became apparent.

We planned to leverage this new find to tell customers about products and general information about Grainger Market, with the carrot of a first-time discount for any visitors to the shop who mentioned that they’d found out about mmm… via Twitter.

At first, customers almost seemed embarrassed to be talking about Twitter, but now we regularly get fellow users meeting each other for ‘real’ for the first time in the shop. We have now grown to over 2,500 followers, the majority of which are locally-based.

SW: Has Twitter been responsible directly for an increase in sales?

IC: Twitter has literally added thousands of pounds to our business in direct sales, mentions and other Twitterers recommending us. We have also used it to ask people about the best type of blogging software, and recommendations for web designers for our website revamp.

We have also helped other traders within @graingermarket to set up accounts, creating a small community – and Simone has been asked to work with Newcastle City Council on a marketing (including website and social media) plan for the market itself.

SW: You typically Tweet in the morning and in the early evening. Is this to fit around your working day and do you have any plans to Tweet throughout the day?

IC: A lot of that is still to do with our domestic and working arrangements. I’m a notorious early riser and tend to catch up with e-mails and tweets in the morning (I’m actually answering these at 5.00am!)

We also tend to catch up with tweets and post new photos to Twitter, Twitpic, Facebook and Flickr in the evenings when we have more time. However, the next step is for Simone to be more active during the day as she has recently taken on her first new members of staff at mmm…

Our record response for a daytime tweet was about 15 minutes. I’d sent photos of newly-arrived UK-grown chillies, and we had customers buying them within minutes saying that they’d seen our photos.

We hope, by the time our new website is ready, to have everything integrated in to one process. We’ll post to our website, Twitter, Facebook and Flickr all in one go. More daytime tweeting will also allow us to answer our customers’ foodie questions and create a two-way process.

SW: Who are your favourite foodie Twitter-users and why?

IC: @cookinacurry – one of our customers and quite simply the most mouth-watering recipe blog out there.

@mrvikkis – Adam is quite simply mad (about chillies). He is an incredibly busy guy but his photos of him preparing his chutneys and pickles are always welcome – especially when a few days later a batch of them arrive for real in the shop

@thomasinamiers – Thomasina was a winner of Masterchef and was our very first celeb twitterer. Ian was far to excited to get a message from her about something we were doing. But her tweets are very entertaining, and her advice on Mexican food is always welcome.

@manvfood – Adam Richman goes across the US enjoying the biggest food challenges out there – repulsive and compulsive at the same time.

We would also extend a foodie follow to:

@graingermarket, @pizzanewcastle, @frenchoven, @olivesetal,@hotstuffchilli, @hungryveggie, @hawksheadrelish, @crellow and @clippysapples

Stephen Waddington is the managing director of Speed. Follow him on Twitter via@wadds.

Tags: clarkin, food, foodie, interview, mmm, Q&A, retail, stephen waddington, twitter