From Cornish Yokels to Pasty Moguls

From Cornish Yokels to Pasty Moguls

From Cornish Yokels to Pasty Moguls

www.westcornwallpasty.co.uk

The Company

“The West Cornwall Pasty Co. has taken the Cornish pasty out of its traditional heartland, repackaged it in a contemporary way and positioned it at the upper end of the bakery market. In direct competition with the style conscious coffee shops and premium sandwich bars, the company has helped transform the humble Cornish pasty into a modern day designer food.”

The company was founded in 1998 by Ken Cocking and his two sons Arran and Gavin with financial backing from a family friend Mark Christophers, and the sons former girlfriends Sarah and Victoria Barber. When asked about the rationale for founding the company Mark Christophers stated, “We are all Cornish and we saw what Starbucks and Café Nero were doing for the coffee market and what Pret a Manger was doing for the sandwich market and we believed the Cornish Pasty was a great product which had not been marketed properly before outside of Cornwall.”

The West Cornwall Pasty Co is the market leading brand and has won numerous awards for its fast growing business and the quality of its hand made pasties. When asked about the rapid sales growth that the West Cornwall Pasty Co. has achieved company director Ken Cocking explains that “people want something different from the same old take away chains and see pasties as a wholesome alternative to the burger, which has become associated with unhealthy living”.

With the humble Cornish pasty now being touted as “Fast Food for the Fashionable,” outlets for Cornish pasties are successfully stealing market share in the take-away market from the global burger chains and coffee bars. By 2007 the West Cornwall Pasty Co. had opened 34 shops, 18 station kiosks, 1 bar and 2 mobile units and was selling 6 million pasties a year. However after 9 years in the pasty business the company founders sold The West Cornwall Pasty Company in 2007 for £40 million to Gresham Private Equity.

Since the business was acquired by private equity firm Gresham, the business has more than doubled in size with the number of stores approaching 70 and sales increasing to approximately 8 million; a healthy sales surge of almost 25%. The West cornwall pasty company has also been announced Currently all the pasties are handmade in Cornwall and then frozen. They are then distributed to individual stores where they are basked fresh in store each day.

The Scenario

In addition to further UK expansion the company are considering expansion into Europe. The new managing directors of the West Cornish Pasty Co. are due to meet in 3 months time to decide which should be the first country they should enter.

The innovation in technology, and globalisation of businesses in the Information age has provided the company with vast opportunity to expand their business in the international market. It is interesting to note that the company manufactures two thirds of its products (crystal, glass, cookware and others) ...