Cornish Bakery is looking to expand its retail estate to over 400 shops and has brought on board its first ever property director.
The independent bakery chain – which appointed an advisory firm a few months back to oversee a potential sale of the business – has grown from its first site opened in a small fishing village in Cornwall in 1994 to operate 66 locations, mostly across England with two over the border in Scotland.
Initially finding success through targeting tourist hotspots, it has since moved into high streets, retail outlet centres, motorway services, and event spaces such as the NEC Birmingham. High streets remain its specific focus for further expansion. “That’s where we see the real growth opportunity,” commented managing director Mat Finch, who joined Cornish Bakery a year ago.
The firm revealed it has been working with an independent consultancy to carry out a comprehensive scalability assessment and location planning strategy, which it said would allow it to reach 411 sites UK-wide. Leading this ambitious expansion is Jeremy Smith in Cornish Bakery’s newly created role of property director.
Smith brings with him over 30 years of experience in property acquisition and estate management, with an impressive track record of driving growth for major retail brands and blue-chip companies. He spent six years at FatFace – a company that, like Cornish Bakery, has deep roots in coastal tourist locations – helping to grow it from 70 to 181 stores. He went on to lead similar nationwide rollouts at Crew Clothing, before a five-year stint as group property director at Mothercare.
Most recently, Smith was property director at The Works where he successfully managed a 500-store estate. His latest appointment marks a bold step forward in Cornish Bakery’s journey and he will work closely alongside MD Finch to acquire leasehold shops in the strategically-thought-out target locations.
“The consultancy work has validated our belief that ‘bakery is the new coffee shop’ whilst confirming that there is a significant opportunity to grow Cornish Bakery across the UK,” said Finch. “Customers are increasingly looking for food that isn’t wrapped in plastic, seeking something that is tasty and freshly baked every day. We are seizing the opportunity to bring our offering to more high streets, shopping outlets and tourist hotspots and I am delighted that Jeremy is joining us at this key stage of our journey to lead the charge in our expansion.”
To cater for this demand, Cornish Bakery said it is also focused on the continual innovation of its menu. Recent additions have included an apple crumble scone, raspberry crème brûlée pastry, a feta & pea tortilla, and a hazelnut pain au chocolat.
Under Finch’s leadership, the company’s strong momentum has continued into 2025, with 9% like-for-like sales growth reported over the past five months including record-breaking Easter and May Bank holiday performances. It’s most recent financial results for the year to 30 May 2024 showed revenue of £29.4m, marking an 24% increase compared to FY23. It has grown sales for four years straight.
Only seven companies selling bakery items currently have estates of more than 400 sites in the UK, including Costa, Greggs, Subway, Starbucks, The Nero Group, Pret, and SSP (which operates Upper Crust and Millie’s Cookies among other brands) as oulined in the latest Bakery Market Report 2025.