Tempe’s Cornish Pasty Co. restaurant will add two more Valley locations by the end of the year.
With the Tempe and Mesa locations thriving, CEO and Cornish Past Co. founder Dean Thomas is looking to open a third location at West Monroe Street in Phoenix on May 1 and a fourth in Old Town Scottsdale by Aug. 31.
Thomas opened the first Cornish Pasty in Tempe in January 2005, followed by a Mesa location in January 2008.
“We have been actively building towards the opening of a Phoenix location for over three years,” Thomas said. “We are all excited about having a Phoenix location and the possibilities that come with it.”
Thomas is also planning on opening a location in Las Vegas within a year.
“We already have secured a lease out in Las Vegas,” Thomas said. “We have some really great business partners there who will be helping us to bring that project to fruition.”
After gaining experience as a chef in England, Thomas arrived in the U.S. in 1999. By 2000, he was determined to open a restaurant dedicated to a traditional British puff pastry — the pasty.
“It was an idea that I had been nurturing for a long time,” Thomas said. “And I feel it’s important to overcome the old stereotype of English food being bland.”
Thomas is determined to avoid a corporate label despite his restaurants’ growth.
“I don’t want Pasty’s to become a franchise pub,” Thomas said. “A lot of people who pursue a franchise can’t sustain that same level of passion over time.”
Brandon Volkenant manages Cornish Pasty Co.’s Tempe location and was first hired as a waiter in 2006.
“It has been a real pleasure being a part of this team and watching it grow,” Volkenant said. “Thomas is a vibrant business owner but he is also a very laid-back guy, which benefits the employees greatly.”
The unique menu and its tie to British history is one of the reasons Cornish Pasty is finding success, said Volkenant.
“For hundreds of years the Cornish tin miners would have these meat pasty’s baked by their wives for when they had lunch down in the mining pits,” Volkenant said. “They’d often heat them up on the ends of their shovels.”
Another contributing factor to the success of Cornish Pasty Co. stems from the relaxed atmosphere enjoyed by members of the staff, said hostess Jasmine Maynes.
“It is rare to be able to work in a place like this,” said Mayes. “We are all like one big dysfunctional family.”
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