CELEBRATING CORNISH FOOD AND DRINK SINCE 2018

Our Story | The Cornish Larder | Cornish Preserves and Gifts

Our Story

Lightbulb Moment

We (Jake and Abi) came up with the idea of the business when we were creating Christmas presents for our families in 2017. Jake had been a professional chef working in kitchens all over the world which is where he refined his knowledge of producing preserves and sauces.

We felt that the incredible food and drink producers in Cornwall need to be celebrated more which is why we had the idea of incorporating those ingredients in our products.

Brand Development

In February of 2018 Jake started testing recipes and producing small batches from home whilst I created all the branding that you still see today.

We wanted something super simple that had that Cornish touch, hence the surfer.

The First Market

March 2018 saw the beginning of our direct to customer journey. We would attend as many food markets and festivals as possible hoping to get the brand out there.

We had no experience with events so it was a complete learning curve!

Our First Distributor - September 2018

Just 6 months after launch, we managed to be listed by the South Wests biggest food distributor. This massively grew the business and gave us so much more confidence that there really was a market for our products.

Our First Production Kitchen - December 2018

We found a local hotel who allowed us to rent a kitchen once a week so that Jake could cook on a larger scale. With numerous Christmas markets and wholesale growing, it was a very overwhelming time!

Summer 2019

Still only a team of two, both with part time jobs, we were supplying over 50 stockists and now had two distributors.

Like most start-ups do, we would be working all day in our respective jobs and then working in to the night on this brand.

Beginning of 2020

We began renting our own unit near Padstow and built a production facility. It was super small but it did the job! Getting pallet deliveries of jars was a nightmare as we only had a residential front door so we had to handball jars off the pallet and then rebuild the pallet inside.

Award-Winning 2020

After a challenging few months due to Covid, we entered our Onion Chutney, Tomato Relish and Strawberry Jam into Taste of the West and all three came back with awards!

Onion and Tomato won GOLD and Strawberry Jam got commended! We were over the moon.

We supplied the G7 Summit!

We received a phone call that would change everything. We were asked to supply the delegates of the G7 Summit with our Spiced Apple and St Ives Cider Chutney! This was HUGE!

Former First Lady Jill Biden loved her jar so much she went and purchased another one from a shop in St Ives!

Crowdfunding

We found a brand new 1500sq foot unit which we needed help funding. Through our crowdfunder campaign, we managed to raise just over £6000!

Our HQ!

January 2022 was a historic month for us as we got the keys to a brand new production facility. We spent the next month kitting it out and turning it in to our dream space. We also said goodbye to hand balling jars in as we now had a roller door for pallet deliveries!

The Cornish Smoke Squad

Having continued to grow TCL and expand our product range, we decided to add a second brand to the business and launch hot sauces.

These went down unbelievably well!

We hired another chef!

Dave joined the team in October 2023, taking over the majority of production enabling Jake to focus on other areas of the business.

Team of 5

By the end of 2025, we had grown to a team of 5 plus one baby!

What's next?

Who knows what the future holds, but what we do know is that we have some big plans!