CANDICE FONSECA runs award-winning Liverpool delicatessen and restaurant Delifonseca. The eatery has been open for three years and employs 20 people.

Candice lives in the city centre with her partner. This was her day:

7am: Wake up at my Tithebarn Street home and head to Delifonseca, in Stanley Street, for the deliveries. We source quite a lot of our ingredients and stock for the restaurant from local companies, including Wirral, Aigburth and Kirkby. Our bread and milk is from Liverpool suppliers. When it comes to what we sell in the deli, produce can come from all around the globe.

8am: The deli opens at 8am, so we always get a bit of a mad rush of people on their way to work coming in for a coffee and a croissant, or maybe to get their lunchtime sandwich. It isn’t a surprise to see the same people coming in and picking up their supper on the way home.

9am: As we do outdoor catering, I get stuck into making 80 sandwiches for a nearby conference at Liverpool John Moores University. We can sometimes do up to four outside catering events in a day, so it can get rather hectic. We have recently done big events for the Mersey Partnership, the Gateway Centre and the Science Park.

10am: I attend a meeting for this year’s Liverpool Food and Drink Festival with some of the other sponsors. The event took place on Sunday and it really was a great success for everyone involved. The festival created an impressive list of sponsors and supporters for 09’s event, and I think that speaks volumes about the magnitude of the city’s burgeoning restaurant and bar scene.

12.00pm: The restaurant opens, which means I need to give everyone a helping hand. Our menu changes every day, depending on which products are in season and the mood of the chefs.

2pm: Time to check my emails and go through some paperwork as the staff has both the restaurant and deli under control. It also gives me a chance to message a few people to vote for us in the up-and-coming BBC Radio 4 Food Awards. We’ve been really lucky when it’s come to competitions this year, including being honoured at Taste Liverpool – The Mersey Partnership Annual Tourism Awards 2009.

3pm: Another catering event – this time it is for canapés for an event at the Playhouse. We are especially busy with these kinds of events on a Thursday – apparently, Thursdays have become the new Fridays in the networking world.

4pm: Go through a huge mountain of paperwork that has piled onto my desk, including accounts. Not my favourite part of the job, but it has to be done.

6pm: Time to start ordering the Christmas stock – even though it may seem really early to some. I have to order it now if I want to get it in time for the middle of October.

7pm: Go out for a bite to eat with my partner to my favourite Japanese restaurant, Etsu. Time for some food and a bit of peace and quiet.

8pm: Go home and chill out by watching some television. I can’t help picking up and reading over a few food and drink magazines, to see what’s happening in the industry.

11.30pm: Head to bed and fall asleep, the minute my head touches the pillow.