STORY: Prima Bakeries 'survives and thrives' with new Homebake Hub

Cornwall’s leading wholesale bakery Prima Bakeries has just launched a Homebake Hub at its base near Redruth, Cornwall. The new centre offers customers the opportunity to buy frozen goods to bake at home, including its signature Cornish pasties, croissants and sausage rolls. This will be in addition to its existing wholesale operations and onsite retail bakery shop.

During the Coronavirus pandemic, many businesses have found themselves “pivoting” operations in a bid to find new ways to reach their customers when the country went into lockdown. Prima was no exception: in early March, the bakery had made more than 25 pallets worth of frozen unbaked pasty stock ready for the upcoming summer season.

“When lockdown started, all our foodservice clients had to close and we weren’t sure we’d get a summer season so we decided to do a special offer in our existing shop on our frozen ‘home-bake’ pasty.  We’ve sold nearly 70,000 of them since,” explains Mark Norton, Prima Bakeries Managing Director. “I believe this home bake frozen pasty market is here to stay and this is why we’re investing in a new second shop on our site at Scorrier that will focus on selling our frozen products. Those customers who are less keen to go out or eat out will still be able to enjoy our delicious freshly-baked pasties at home.”

The success of the original initiative has also meant that Prima has recruited five new pasty production staff in the last six weeks.

Prima’s Homebake Hub opened July 28, 2020.