Cornwall’s finest food and drink will be celebrated later this month (June 12-21) when the Great Cornish Food Store marks its tenth anniversary.
A jam-packed programme of events awaits visitors to the showcase store based next to Waitrose in Truro. There will be tastings, demonstrations, samplings, competitions and give-aways throughout the ten-day big birthday period.
There will also be a fond farewell to the store’s Founder and driving force Ruth Huxley, who is retiring after being succeeded by Richard Bain as Managing Director last November (2025). The store was established by Ruth as a centre for the best Cornish produce and stocks around 2,500 lines from more than 250 local suppliers. It opened the same day as Waitrose on June 16, 2016, and is the only 100 per cent local food hall anywhere in the UK that shares its premises with a major supermarket.
Great Cornish Food estimates that its value to the local economy over the last decade is in the region of £70 million. In 2022 the store transitioned to employee ownership, giving its team of nearly 40 a say in how the business is run and a share in its profits.
To mark the highly-successful decade, there will be different activities happening in the store on each of the ten days, June 12-21, with supplier sampling sessions, prize competitions, giveaways linked to the number ten, and ten specially designed freshly-baked cupcakes to be given away each day. The store’s café will be offering some throwback favourites on a special £10 menu available throughout the ten-day celebration.
Ruth said: “The success of the Great Cornish Food Store is testament to the great variety and quality of produce we’re able to source from land and sea. We couldn’t have done it without all the brilliant people who produce such fabulous food and drink and everyone else who has been part of the store’s incredible journey. We’re looking forward to celebrating a memorable decade in the coming days.”
Ruth’s successor Richard said: “Huge congratulations to Ruth, the whole team and all the suppliers and collaborators who have supported the principle of Great Cornish Food from the start and over the last ten years. It’s an honour for me to lead the business forward and to build on that decade of success.”
Looking back over the decade, the store has compiled an eye-catching list of some of the top-selling items. This includes an impressive 62,000 Da Bara cinnamon buns. Stacked on top of each other, this would be taller than seven Eiffel Towers! Other big sellers over the decade are 3.5 tonnes of Cornish Yarg cheese, 46,000 punnets of Boddington’s strawberries, 11,800 bottles (or 59,000 toasts) of Camel Valley sparkling wine, over three tonnes of Cornish crab meat, and nearly 18 tonnes of the store’s own Great Cornish Sausages – about 13.5 miles if laid end to end.
Home baked scones, made from scratch every day, are another favourite. The in-store chefs have made about half a million of them since the store opened.
Among the suppliers who have paid tribute to how much Ruth and Great Cornish Food have helped their business is Penny Williams, of Helston-based Penny’s Pies. Penny said: “The Great Cornish Food Store is the reason I am in business. Ten years ago, thanks to The Post Office Horizon Scandal, I was made bankrupt, lost my business – a pub, restaurant, shop and post office and had to do something to provide for my family. I started making a few pies as the store was being set up. They spotted them and got in touch.”
Penny added: “I started supplying them from the opening day. Penny’s Pies was born. The Great Cornish Food Store has been consistently my best customer over the last 10 years. Ruth has always been a source of advice and an ear through all the growing pains of a small business – for which I will always be grateful. I am where I am today, with an expanding business, because of the Great Cornish Food Store. I cannot express the debt of gratitude I owe to them. They are amazing and here’s to the next 10 years.”
For more information on Great Cornish Food go to greatcornishfood.co.uk
