Cornwall crab meat supplier Got Crabs has been able to purchase a special tank for its catch thanks to
a Start Up Loan Funding by the British Business Bank, supported by SWIG Finance.
Tim and Abi Werger started Got Crabs in Newquay as a purveyor of quality crab and lobster sandwiches but soon found a gap in the market for supplying meat to the hospitality trade in Cornwall and beyond. Start Up Loan funding worth £33,000 has enabled them to buy a larger filtration tank to keep the crustaceans fresher for longer.
Start Up Loans is part of the British Business Bank and offers personal loans of up to £25,000 per director and offers free mentoring to help anyone start or grow a new or early-stage business.
SWIG Finance is the Bank’s Business Support Partner for the government-backed programme in the South West, and last year alone delivered £8 million in Start Up Loan funding to over 400 new and early-stage businesses.
Tim and Abi moved to Cornwall from London in 2022 for some post-lockdown fresh air.
“We were interested in hospitality and wanted to start our own business,” said Tim. “We saw a gap in the market for really good crab sandwiches and lobster rolls at a reasonable price – people love them.”
Selling from a trailer in St Merryn and via a Newquay bakery, the Wergers made superior sandwiches for two years, doubling trade each year. But they noticed it had suddenly become hard to get good local crab meat.
“We realised the only way to get it affordably was to buy direct from dayboat fishermen landing in Newquay and Padstow, and process it ourselves.”
Owner-operated day boats are the beating heart of Cornwall’s fishing industry, with traceability and sustainability guaranteed. Brown crab is caught in the seas between St Ives and Padstow; the time between catch and land is minimal, undersized and breeding stock are returned to the water, and weather restrictions ensure stocks have a chance to recover.
In the kitchen, the crabs are cooked modern, picked traditional: the meat is steamed and chilled with top technology, but hand-picked with methods as old as the fishing industry in Cornwall. “It’s a labour intensive job”, says Tim.
Even so, having learned on the hoof from their suppliers and chef contacts, the Wergers turned out to be naturals at the process. The sandwich trade took a back seat as they found themselves shipping succulent crab and lobster meat to restaurants in Cornwall and beyond for use in high-end menu dishes.
Four years later, they have just hired their fifth employee. Tim hopes “the best crab sandwiches in Cornwall” will make a return in summer 2027. “It feels like if you start a new business in Cornwall, people are more likely to give you a go – it’s more community focused,” he says.
When it came to funding, grant-savvy fishing contacts in Padstow steered Tim in the direction of the Start Up Loans programme. Loans of £25,000 can be delivered in two tranches; in this case, an initial loan of £20,000 was followed by a second loan of £12,932 – the remaining £5,000 plus what had been paid back from the trading start date.
“The interest rate was fantastic,” says Tim, “and the process was great, especially the due diligence. Like us, it was all about doing things properly.”
Jules Burton, Start Up Loans Officer for SWIG Finance, adds:
“I was impressed with Tim’s resilience in an industry which can be impacted by circumstances beyond one’s control. He showed an aptitude for learning and pivoting the business in order to respond quickly to change and customer need.”