Jake Kendall
Our Suppliers: The Cornish Larder
Name: Jake Kendall
Job Title: Co-Founder
Nickname: Well my actual name is Jacob, but no one calls me that. So I guess Jake is a nickname.
Time in role: Since we began the business ( 2 and a half years ago )
Favourite part of the Job:
Creating new recipes and flavours in our production kitchen.
Favourite Food:
Gammon steak, whenever we go out to eat I always order that. It always annoys the girlfriend!
Favourite place:
The Whitsundays (Australia), I worked over there for 6 months on a tiny 1 km island. It was amazing! Closer to home however would be Fistral Beach!
Why I like V&M:
They have helped me and my business MASSIVELY since we started. When we started with Westcountry just over a year ago, we were still creating our products within our home kitchen. However they have helped increase sales and we now are able to have our own production kitchen.
Unusual fact about me:
I used to play football for Cornwall & Plymouth Argyle youth teams.
Which Cornish Larder product best represents me and why?
Well the favorite in our house is the Tomato & Dead Man's fingers relish. However the part of the business that best represents me is simply just celebrating all the other Cornish producers within our products. Being a Cornish lad, I wanted a business that celebrates my home. That's why we started the business and that is what motivates us!
Whose idea was it to make the range & how did it come about?
I always knew I wanted my own business within the Cornish artisan food sector. Me and my partner used to make the onion & Keltek Ale Chutney and Orange & Tarquin’s Gin Marmalade for our family for Christmas. And one Christmas we just thought this could be a business, the rest is history!
What’s the strangest customer request you’ve had?
We get a few when we are at food festivals, however a request that I will never forget is when we were at a trade show, we were asked how much for 500 thousand units! We are still very small and make everything by hand. An order that size would take us all year!
If you knew then what you know now what would you do differently?
Being newbies to this business world, we have obviously made our fair share of mistakes. However I feel like they have taught us invaluable lessons and helped us get to where we are today!
What’s next for Cornish Larder?
We have a new range coming out in the Summer which will be available alongside our preserves. We are collaborating with three new & exciting Cornish producers! Lots of time & recipe development has gone into that.
Dream job?
Anything involved within artisan food & drink!
Covid 19 specific question- what’s the most positive thing you will take away from this time?
Lockdown was difficult for all businesses, the first few weeks were spent panicking due to all
summer festivals being cancelled which are normally one of our biggest earners throughout
the year, however once we got over the initial worry, the time enabled us to really evaluate the
business and work on the areas that we wouldn’t normally have time to do. It’s also meant we
could plan and create the three new flavours coming your way very soon.
In our personal home lives, we actually spent 3 weeks of lockdown converting a ford transit into
a campervan! Our weekends are now going to be epic! @travels_with_gino if you want a look :)