West Cornwall Pasty Company (styled as West Cornwall Pasty Co.) is a

fast food chain A fast-food restaurant, also known as a quick-service restaurant (QSR) within the industry, is a specific type of restaurant that serves fast-food cuisine and has minimal table service. The food served in fast-food restaurants is typically ...

in the United Kingdom specialising in making and selling

pasties Pasties (singular pasty or pastie) are patches that cover a person's nipples and areolae, typically self-adhesive or affixed with adhesive. They originated as part of burlesque shows, providing a commercial form of bare-breasted entertainment. T ...

. The company was established in 1998 and has been owned by Mark and David Samworth since 2017. In 2020 the company's retail outlets closed but it continues to supply other retailers.

History

West Cornish Pasty Company was launched in 1998 by Ken Cocking, a serial entrepreneur, along with his sons, Arron and Gavin, and Mark Christophers. The first store was opened in Chippenham, Wiltshire, and the firm was initially financed by family and friends. After nine years, Cockings sold the company to its management for £40 million in October 2007. At the time, the company had four hundred staff in 55 establishments of various types. By July 2013, it was reported to employ around 450 staff in eighty locations, including eighteen in London. The

pasty A pasty () is a British baked pastry, a traditional variety of which is particularly associated with Cornwall, South West England, but has spread all over the British Isles. It is made by placing an uncooked filling, typically meat and vegetab ...

was originally a portable meal of meat and potatoes in a pastry case, made for tin miners in Cornwall to take underground. The modern range has expanded to include lamb and minted peas, chicken, and spicy chorizo. In April 2014, the private equity house Gresham, the owners of the company, put it into administration, blaming its failure on the government's decision to charge VAT on pasties. The company was subsequently sold to another

private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a t ...

fund,

Endless Endless or The Endless may refer to: Business * Endless (private equity), a British firm * Endless.com, an e-commerce website selling shoes and accessories * Endless Computers, an American operating system company Film * ''The Endless'' (film ...

, backed by

Danny Mills Daniel John Mills (born 18 May 1977) is an English former professional footballer best known for his time at Leeds United. His main position was right-back, though he could also play as a centre-back. On 7 August 2009, he announced his retirem ...

, former

Leeds United F.C. Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

and England footballer, and others. Losses were reduced by expanding the company's range and by taking a more targeted approach, concentrating on outlets such as railway stations and sports venues. The firm boosted the range of own brand coffees that it sells, to try to get each customer to spend more in each transaction. Endless sold the business in 2017 to

Samworth Brothers Samworth Brothers is a British food manufacturer which produces a range of chilled and ambient foods, both own-label and branded. It is the owner of Cornish pasty maker Ginsters and malt loaf manufacturer Soreen, and is also known as a make ...

, who already owned the

Ginsters Ginsters is a company based in Callington in Cornwall, in the south-west of England. The largest pasty maker in the UK in turnover, it specialises in making mass-produced pasties, sausage rolls, sandwiches, pasta bowls and other savoury snacks ...

pasty brand. At that time there were 33 shops and 19 franchises at motorway service stations. The company states that its pasties are still made in west Cornwall. In what was described as a temporary measure, all the company's shops closed in March 2020 in response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. In the last quarter of that year, Samworth decided to close the shops permanently as they were "unviable". The brand continues to be sold through other retailers, principally motorway service stations.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:West Cornwall Pasty Company Companies based in Cornwall Fast-food chains of the United Kingdom Food brands of the United Kingdom 1998 establishments in England British companies established in 1998 Restaurants established in 1998