It seems 1.2 million Instagram followers does not a successful business make.

Food blogger Deliciously Ella (Ella Mills) has learned that lesson the hard way. The popular foodie has been forced to close two of her three London delis this weekend. Deliciously Ella at Seymour Place and Deliciously Ella at Herne Hill will both close, Mills announced this weekend.

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A third deli, Deliciously Ella at Mayfair, owned by both Mills and her husband Matthew Mills will remain open.

In an Instagram post, Mills explained her reasoning for closing the Marylebone site.

It has become clear that having two delis so close together doesn’t really make sense, and that we’d be better off focusing all of our attention on one deli (Weighhouse Street) and making it the absolute best experience for all of you.

In her post, Mills does not make clear the reason for closing the Herne Hill venue.

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Tomorrow we’re going to be saying goodbye to our deli at Seymour Place and Herne Hill. Seymour was Matt and my first venture together and we learnt more opening that site than we ever thought possible. It’s been a huge piece of our journey, and it’s filled with many great memories. It really feels like a million years ago that we sat downstairs the night before opening unpacking the final boxes and panicking if anyone would ever come. Somehow lots of you did, and we realised very quickly that we needed a larger space, which is what led us to Weighhouse Street, just 5 minutes down the road. We love our cosy spot on Seymour Place and all of our regulars, but as time’s gone on it has become clear that having two delis so close together doesn’t really make sense, and that we’d be better off focusing all of our attention on one deli (Weighhouse Street) and making it the absolute best experience for all of you. We’re so excited that we’ve been able to reach more of you by having our energy balls, granolas, bircher muesli and oat bars stocked in lots of shops throughout the UK, and we have lots of exciting plans for new food ranges throughout this year. We’re really going to miss Seymour and Herne Hill and both will always have such a special place in the Deliciously Ella journey, but we’re excited for all of the things to come at Weighhouse Street, and look forward to seeing you there soon. Thank you to everyone who visited us at Seymour and Herne Hill, we’re incredibly grateful for all of your support in making this journey possible, we couldn’t do it without you ❤️❤️❤️

A post shared by Deliciously Ella (@deliciouslyella) on

What went wrong for Deliciously Ella?

Despite Mills’ explanation, the Mail on Sunday reports there’s a little more to the story, writing the deli business accumulated £724,000 worth of losses after being open for just over two years.

According to accounts information posted to Companies House, the business’ total debts were £630,000 by the end of the financial year ending 31 May 2017. That’s an increase of £195,000 from the year before.

The total value for the company’s fixed assets was just £26,000 and their cash at the bank was £143,000.

Elsewhere, the fledgling company paid dividends to its sole director — Mills — of £222,000 in dividends from the deli business by the end of the financial year.

The accounts also show that average number of employees across the financial year was four — working across all three delis.

According to the Mail on Sunday, shareholders will meet the responsibility for the debt.

Background:

Deliciously Ella is the pen name of Eleanor Mills.

She began her clean eating food blog in 2011 after being diagnosed with postural tachycardia syndrome while at university. This is an abnormality of the nervous system. Symptoms include fainting, dizziness when standing, heart palpitations, headaches, difficulty thinking or concentrating, digestion problems, insomnia, and bladder problems.

After changing her diet, Mills began to regain control of her symptoms. This sparked her enthusiasm for clean eating which she spread to the world.

In January 2015, Mills made the jump from online cooking recipes to a physical cookbook. Deliciously Ella went on to become the fastest-selling debut cookbook ever. Mills followed up this book with multiple other titles. Her book business is entirely separate to the floundering deli business.

And while the entrepreneurial author’s blogging beginnings might make her seem vaguely amateurish, she has food in her veins. Mills’ mother is the heir of the supermarket chain Sainsbury’s. From her father, she gains her skill in the public eye; he is a Labour peer.

Her husband, Matthew Mills, the co-owner of their deli business. He is also from a well to-do background, the son of international lawyer David Mills and Labour peer Baroness Tessa Jowell.