Sue Baker is a popular woman. During my interview with her on a sweltering Valentine's Day, we're frequently interrupted by regulars saying their goodbyes and patrons eagerly chatting about their latest artisanal purchases. A well-known blogger stops at our table to compliment her on her fine foodie establishment, The Wild Peacock Food Emporium.

At three in the afternoon, the place is milling with activity. Outside, the green chequer-topped bench tables are dotted with patrons finishing their lunches, or starting the evening's amorous activities with bottles of ice-cold wine. Inside, the sprawling deli counter is crowded with people making up their minds over flecked quail's eggs, Serrano-style hams, foie gras and fresh oysters. In a nod to the international day of all things rose-tinted, the blackboard menu is chalked up with a special Valetine's menu starring the likes of chilled tomato broth with rosemary breadsticks and salmon trout fishcakes with French fries.

‘I actually trained as a teacher, but ever since I can remember I've always had an absolute passion for oysters,’ says Sue, when asked how she landed at the helm of this popular delicatessen. ‘I got it from my father. We'd go to Plett, pick them off the rocks, bang them open and enjoy them right there on the beach.’

Upon leaving Johannesburg for Cape Town in 1991, Sue and her family received a parting gift of Walvis Bay oysters from friends. So tasty were these slippery critters, that Sue made the decision to quit the teaching profession and start a small business selling the Namibian molluscs to Capetonians.

‘I literally started out by selling them out of the back of my bakkie,’ she laughs. ‘I think at the time they were about 15c each.’

‘In those days there weren't a lot of restaurants in the Cape,’ continues Sue. ‘It was basically Emily's, Constantia Uitsig and La Colombe. There was only a small restaurant booklet on the market at the time, so I started out by phoning all the chefs listed in it.’

Sue rapidly made a name for herself among Cape Town's restaurateurs, so when Frederick Therman from erstwhile eatery L'Auberge du Paysan (now Helderberg Restaurant) requested she track down a local supplier of foie gras, it seemed like the logical next step in the business. Before long, Dominique Evans from Steffanie's Place asked for porcini mushrooms and Margot Janse from The Tasting Room at Le Quartier Francais put in a plea for quails, and as the orders for exotic new products streamed in, she was finally able to buy a second bakkie and appoint another driver.

The burgeoning wholesale business was finally christened when the family bought a property on the Morgenhoff Estate and became accustomed to seeing peacocks sauntering over the hill. ‘Someone told us that these peacocks were interbred with the local guinea fowls,’ explains Sue. ‘If you look closely at the logo, you'll see the peacock has the head of a guinea fowl.’

Today, Sue's on the speed dial of over 350 restaurants in Cape Town and the Winelands, with noteworthy clients including Grande Roche, La Motte, Babel and Rust en Vrede. The Eat Out Restaurant of the Year's request for Valrohne chocolate led to Sue becoming the only purveyor of the covetable cacao product in the country.

The Wild Peacock Food Emporium opened in July last year and serves as a shopfront for Wild Peacock Products. ‘The whole family's involved,’ says Sue, whose son Ross runs the business side of things, daughter Sarah manages the deli and restaurant, and hubby Andrew drew up the wine list. ‘We started it because of our combined passion for food, wine and life.’

As the interview draws to a close, I ask her whether Sue has any gift suggestions for my Valentine waiting at home. Not surprisingly, she suggests the oysters, and as daughter Sharon rings them up for me, she throws in a lemon for good measure. ‘It's on the house,’ she says smiling. ‘We've got a tree at home.’

No wonder this little place has so many fans.