Cornish Bakery Founder and CEO Steve Grocutt remains positively bullish in the face of ‘lack of proper leadership from the UK Government’ as the fast-growth company reports another record year in accounts ending May 2025, posted to Companies House. The independent bakery recorded a 24% increase in sales to £36.4m, showing a 32% increase in EBITDA of £4.5million.
In addition to these impressive figures, in the last six months, the company has added another six bakeries in key locations with Grocutt revealing that records are continuing to be regularly broken with the company’s biggest ever sales week over the recent Christmas period. The independent operation also reports its highest levels of team retention, backed up with another ‘Outstanding’ accreditation in this year’s Great Places To Work survey.
Grocutt says, “Customers are enjoying our products and service with all categories in like-for-like growth and our Net Promoter Score (NPS) growing to 69. Coffee is our outstanding performer, with our recently announced move to Cornish B-Corp Origin already reaping rewards. Good news continues with our next profit surge being imminent with us opening the doors to eight more beautiful bakeries by April this year, and lots more in the planning. We’ll also be revealing the refurbishment of four bakeries in the next month.”
Grocutt also announces a significant brand extension concept – RISE. Three of the upcoming openings will showcase this product and service experience evolution with licenced bakeries extending coffee and bakery lines with additional small plates for brunch and early evening periods, washed down with Cornish beers from Harbour Brewery and wines from Camel Valley Vineyard. These bakeries will be significantly larger with 3,500 square feet in one, 196 covers in another and three floors including ever-changing curated art exhibitions in another. Locations and specific details for these new openings will be announced soon.
The first Cornish Bakery was in the quaint harbour village of Mevagissey and Grocutt confirms: “The Cornish mothership super brand keeps on giving and we fully intend to continue to celebrate the quality and craftmanship of Cornish artists, designers, furniture makers and food and drink creators by building each and every one of our new bakeries differently right across the country.”
Cornish Bakery currently estimates that it feeds over £10m of spend back into the Cornish secondary economy via its bakeries within the county and its supplier relationships including coffee, producers and ingredient providers, design and PR companies as well as artists and makers who supply each new and refurbished bakery with bespoke products and designs.
Turning to the current unease in the hospitality trade Grocutt reflects, “We’ll have 79 bakeries open for business by Spring 2026 and we just keep on breaking new ground, whilst breaking our own records. However, it is far from easy. This Government needs to show proper leadership for the High Street and for hospitality at large. They need to stop lying to us and to provide stability.”
Grocutt continues, “This rates situation is a complete disaster, and they will need to change it again. Hospitality is hospitality. The difference between a pub, restaurant, bakery or coffee shop is not what it used to be and continues to be blurred. Customers are used to having a coffee in a pub or a meal in a coffee shop, yet the Government just do not understand this. The nerves around the Autumn Budget need to stop. I currently see a year of two halves: in the first, post-Budget calm to get things done. And in the second half, holding back to see if we get taxed again. This ceaseless instability and uncertainty is killing off hospitality and just making everything more expensive for our customers. The current trajectory for our wider industry under this Government is simply unsustainable. It does not need to be this way.”
