WHEAL KITTY COMMUNITY | CANTEEN

When it comes to post-surf breakfasts, coffee catch-ups and lunchtime dining, there’s only one place in Wheal Kitty we want to be. We caught up with Canteen’s Ben Quinn, Sophie Cartmail and Trav Bulbeck to talk food, community and what their past year here has brought to the table…

In summer 2017, events operator Woodfired Canteen set up base at Wheal Kitty. Throwing their doors open in November as a warm and welcoming space where people sit at a long table, share stories and connect over honest food cooked straight from the heart, it’s made lunchtime worth looking forward to, for residents and visitors the workshops over. 

Canteen, brought to life by Sam and Ben Quinn– are renowned for delivering unforgettable communal food experiences regionally, nationally and internationally – the brand’s philosophy of ‘good people, good food’ rings loud and true the moment you pull up a chair. Canteen has built a loyal, local community. A following that cares about where its food comes from and understands the power food has to bring people together, whether for a common cause, for camaraderie or for conversation.

“We started our journey into event catering just like everyone else,” says Ben Quinn, Canteen’s co-founder. “Our bottom line was intentional, and we were very focused on how we were going to make money. We were really successful financially, but we would come back from experiences and events and realise that there was just a massive disconnect between us and the guests.”

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For Ben and his co-founder Sam, it was a disconnect that left an unsavoury taste in their mouths and saw them reconsider what was important to them. In the end, it came down to the connections that people can make over food. “We realised that the act of feeding someone and the pleasure you get from eating together around a long table is more to do with the way it makes a group of people feel and the way they can bond over it,” Ben says. “We had always loved how people meet, share and discover new things together over food and we started to gesture towards the fact we could enable that experience for all sorts of groups of people; to lay those tables and make lifetime memories.”

“We had always loved how people meet, share and discover new things together over food and we started to gesture towards the fact we could enable that experience for all sorts of groups of people.” - Ben Quinn

This ethos isn’t just the driving purpose of Canteen’s events arm but at the heart of everything it does. Unassumingly hidden behind grey steel doors, from the outside Canteen looks every inch a warehouse – but inside it thrums with the spirit and energy of Wheal Kitty itself. “Community is key to how people eat here,” says Sophie Cartmail, part of team Canteen and all things events. “We get so many different types of people stopping by – from work meetings, to groups of friends or mothers’ groups… everyone. It’s all about the coming together and sharing with each other, and food is the catalyst for that.”

For Canteen family, it’s this sense of connection, with its location, its neighbours and its purpose that makes Wheal Kitty the perfect fit for the business. “We have quite a small team and being part of a bigger collection of people is awesome,” says Sophie. “There’s a sense of a wider community, rather than just the three or four individuals working here daily, and we’re able to hear what’s going on around us, see those people and have a relationship with them as well.”

“It’s really about how somewhere like this makes everyone feel,” she continues. “We’re not just here to make money. I think that’s the same throughout all the businesses. And I think that type of business attracts a certain type of person as well – everyone who works up here is on the same wavelength. We all care deeply about the world around us and our impact upon it.”

“There’s a good balance here, that’s the thing with the businesses in Wheal Kitty,” says Trav Bulbeck, one of Canteen’s chefs. “It’s not your average place where people just work, work, work and don’t have a life. With Finisterre’s Sea Tuesdays, they come here once a month and have breakfast as part of that. And it’s cool seeing them come in after, and doing the community beach cleans. It definitely brings everyone together, and our way of doing that is feeding everyone and fuelling them with coffee.”

Naturally, the sea plays its part in shaping Canteen’s ethos – as it does for any business calling the Wheal Kitty workshops their home. “It’s a big part of the community here,” Sophie explains. “If you’ve got a break in the middle of your day it’s a short walk down to the coastal path and you’ll be somewhere stunning. When we were doing a few evening events in the summer, we’d go down for a swim once we’d finished lunch service here, before the evening. Being able to do something like that just roots you right back to the coastal landscape and everything it stands for.” A smile spreads across Trav’s face. “Even if you’re not on a break,” he adds. “That’s the beauty of the people we work for. If you said, ‘I just need to get out for a minute’, they’d be like, ‘Sure. Go and grab 10 out there’.”

As with so many of the businesses based at Wheal Kitty, pigeonholing Canteen isn’t easy. Prep kitchen? Social hub? Shared workspace? It’s all of these things coalesced, an ever-evolving space that has one sole, clear purpose: to bring people together over lovingly made food that exudes soul and creativity in equal measure. “A good day at Canteen is a room full of people enjoying really honest food that’s affordable, year-round,” says Ben. “And it’s a whole bunch of memories being made that are going to last much longer than the food on our customers plates does!”

Photos by Abbi Hughes