Wed 12th Jun 2024 - Cornish Bakery secures new funding, hires first MD Cornish Bakery secures new funding, hires first MD: Fast-growing independent chain Cornish Bakery has secured new funding to support its ambition of doubling its circa 60-strong estate, and hired Mat Finch as its first managing director. The company, which was founded in Cornwall in 1994 by Steve Grocutt, secured the new funding package from Virgin Money. Cornish Bakery said it plans to use the new investment to open new locations in the East Midlands, the south west and Nottinghamshire in the near future, while also refurbishing existing stores in St Ives and across the Lake District. Ralf Goad, finance director of Cornish Bakery, said: “We're on a shared mission to supercharge our growth and to at least double, if not triple, in size in the coming years. We're building a pioneering brand proposition where our mantra is 'bakery is the new coffee shop'. We fully appreciate our close working relationship with the strategic finance team at Virgin Money and are delighted to work together to continually achieve, and often overachieve, our ambitious objectives.” Talking to Propel in February, Grocutt said the company, which finished its last financial year, to 1 June 2023, with 56 stores and Ebitda of £3.2m (2022: £4.2m), had ten sites in its pipeline for this year. Raj Manek, who was last year appointed the business' first head of acquisitions, recently said there were plans to double or triple its size. And while Grocutt was keen to “avoid getting hung up on numbers”, he said it could “get to 100 easily, perhaps 150-200” and is “constantly looking”. He added: “Raj has created a target list, but there is no pressure. He took Loungers from 30 sites when he joined to about 160.” The new funding comes as Cornish Bakery, which most recently opened in Lewes, East Sussex, has hired Mat Finch, formerly of Bourne Leisure, Dell and Google, as its first managing director. Finch was previously managing director at Caffeine&Machine, and spent 12 years at Bourne Leisure, including nine years as its commercial and marketing director of Warner Leisure Hotels. He also spent time as the head of marketing at Dell and as a senior account director EMEA at Google. Finch will work alongside founder Grocutt to drive the company's stated objectives of building a unique team culture, “winning beautifully” and supercharging swift growth. At Warner Leisure Hotels, he led a team of 120, doubled revenue, achieved 90%-plus occupancy, and opened two new hotels for the family and founder-owned business across a 12-year tenure. Grocutt said: “At 60-plus bakeries with plans to double or even triple in size, Mat Finch joins Cornish Bakery as one of the leading modern high-end bakeries in the world. We continue to drive our impressive business growth through our unquestionable people-first values and our independent brand spirit. As our first managing director, Mat will now lead our 800-plus people, continuing our successful journey while nourishing our vital teams and customers on the way. Bakery is very clearly the new coffee shop, and Mat fully echoes my strong belief that our industry can change and create real legacy. He'll lead the charge now with Cornish Bakery redefining what a bakery is, what it does and what it can be, every single day of the week.” Cornish Bakery features in the Premium Club Turnover & Profits Blue Book, the latest edition of which will be released on Friday (14 June) and feature 926 companies. Its turnover of £23,671,769 for the year to 1 June 2023 is the 369th highest in the database. The Blue Book ranks companies by turnover, profit and profit conversion, listing directors’ earnings for the past five years. Companies can now have an unlimited number of people receive access to Premium Club for a year for £995 plus VAT – whether they are an operator or a supplier. The single subscription rate is £495 plus VAT for operators and £595 plus VAT for suppliers. Email kai.kirkman@propelinfo.com to upgrade your subscription.