The Cornish Bakery, a national award-winning bakery, has secured £1 million through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) to support it in reopening its 45 bakeries and help to protect the company’s future. The business, which has 400 employees across 45 bakeries closed its doors to customers on 23rd March and had to furlough all but seven of the team.
The loan provided by Clydesdale Bank, owned by Virgin Money UK, will allow the business to ensure there is adequate cash flow to be able to reopen doors to customers over the coming weeks. The funding will also enable The Cornish Bakery to introduce new health and safety procedures, including providing staff with protective clothing – such as masks and visors – and introducing new Perspex screens around all customer counters.
By the end of June, the bakery hopes to take its staff out of furlough and reopen each one of its sites (excluding those based at the National Exhibition Centre) without having to make any redundancies – and is even looking to make additional hires to see it through the summer season. The CBILS funding has also given The Cornish Bakery opportunity to pivot its strategy to diversify into launching both an online mail order and click and collect service to future proof it should it ever be forced to close its physical sites again.
Steve Grocutt, founder of The Cornish Bakery, said:
“The loan provided by Clydesdale Bank will allow us to quickly reintroduce cash flow into the business to allow us to become operational again. The team at the bank was fully supportive in making sure we could not only work towards reopening our 45 bakeries up and down the country as quickly as was possible, but we will also be able to use this loan to future-proof the business by launching new digital revenue streams. Without the financial support coming to us as quickly as it did, we could be hit harder should a second peak of the virus hit the country. This funding will not only help us to survive but hopefully thrive.
“Our hopes now are to not only to return the business to normal but hopefully grow the business through these new revenue streams and in time through acquisition. We are incredibly positive about the future of the business and look forward to welcoming our staff and customers back to the bakeries.”
Stewart Linnane, relationship manager at Clydesdale Bank, said:
“The Cornish Bakery was one of the first companies to approach us and have their CBILS application approved. Within two weeks, the business had received both the application approval and had the full amount transferred into its accounts. The COVID-19 pandemic has meant that time is of the essence. We recognise that when a business is closed doesn’t mean it is not spending money and incurring costs. It has also presented opportunities for businesses to consider diversifying their business to protect it from future challenging marketing environments. Those businesses that have seen success during the pandemic to date are those with e-commerce functions. We are proud to be able to support The Cornish Bakery in helping to secure that positive future.”