A Conversation With Blue River Table: A Sustainable, Women-Led Dining and Cruise Experience
Charlotte Whyte is one half of the dynamic team behind Blue River Table, a bespoke floating dining experience on the Cornish Coast. This distinctive venture offers a blend of river cruises and locally sourced, fine dining, all set aboard a charming Cornish Motor Launch. Charlotte and her business partner, Jess Harris, rebuilt and restored the 36-foot-long vessel to house their floating enterprise. These two women are the driving force behind every facet of the operation, from skippering to marketing to sourcing food.
On a quiet Wednesday afternoon on the River Fal, I met Charlotte for an interview. After hopping aboard a local water taxi, I came upon Charlotte as she was preparing Tethra (Blue River Table’s vessel) for her next cruise. After a less-than-graceful climb aboard the ship – Tethra was moored in the bay – Charlotte put the kettle on, and we settled down on the aft deck for an interview and a classic cup of British tea.
Annie: I have so many questions. I think a good place to start would be with Tethra, the boat. From what I understand, you two [Jess and Charlotte] both have a boatbuilding background…
Charlotte: Yeah. Jess’ mum, Lorraine, is a boat builder and has been since Jess was a kid. And, Jess has done lots of practical stuff with boats and sailing, but more so with modern-style boats than old traditional boats. And then I just grew up sailing with my dad but he wasn’t really into the old wooden boat scene.
When I moved back down to Cornwall I just got really into it and rebuilt a few boats with my ex-partner. We rebuilt maybe six boats together over the years. We know the right people, too, as in everyone we know is a boatbuilder or a marine engineer or a sailmaker. So it just seemed silly not to use them when we were fixing Tethra. Originally, we were thinking about getting a fiberglass boat and were like, “We definitely don’t want wood.” It’s so much work.
Annie: But here you are with a wooden boat.
Charlotte: Yeah. She’s a Cornish fishing boat from Looe. She was built in 1971, and there are quite a few of them. She was an open boat originally and had a bulkhead at the back there at the back of the wheelhouse.
The reason why we have Tethra over a fiberglass boat is because none of them [fiberglass boats] were very pretty. And, we thought It’d be really nice to have a boat that had that local history and really worked with the landscape.
It [Tethra] made the business better rather than just another boat that didn't sort of add. And essentially, she was just the right shape for a bar and a table. We knew there would be stuff we didn't know… But there was a lot. She’s totally redone.
Annie: So after you purchased her, how long did the rebuild process take? What was it like?
Charlotte: It was a big rebuild. It was six months. It was me and Jess building all the time. And then we had one team that repacked the hull and did all the framing and the engine installation. And then Jess and I refastened the boat, just the two of us, and caught up with loads of painting. Then we sort of had a change of teams and our friend Rory came in and did all the beautiful carpentry and things like that for the interior.
Annie: When did you two go fully operational?
Charlotte: In August 2018. We came up with the idea in November 2017. We bought the boat by December and then in January we started the build. The boat was launched in June. And we had a business launch the first week of August so could get six weeks of training before the end of the season.
Annie: How did you and Jess meet?
So we both grew up together and lived on boats in the Penryn River. We lived on the opposite sides of the river and could shout across to each other and have been friends since like six.
We lost contact a bit when I moved away but have been really close since. She moved back here after being in Australia and, and I was like, “Hey, how about doing them together?” and she went “Yeah!” and that’s how it went really.
What I find really interesting is that you two are at the intersection of Cornish history, sustainable food, and fine dining. A female-run boating experience also appears to be fairly niche in this industry. How did you two come up with this incredibly multifaceted idea?
Charlotte: Well, it kind of all organically happened. I had just rebuilt a wooden motor launch with my ex-partner, Spike. Jess and I went out on a sunny day to take photos of it to get it ready to sell. She [the boat] was tiny, like 20 feet, and open with a little engine.
And Jess said, “You know, people would pay to come out for a picnic on this.”
I had been working for the last ten years before that, in the summers doing relief cooking on all of the traditional boats from here. And that was really fun, and Jess had said that about the picnic boat and we sort of thought about it for a minute. And, then like a week later, Jess said “Let’s be serious about it” and I said ok.
I thought “It would be really cool if there could be a bar on board” and “It would be really great if we could have a table to seat 12.” By this point, it's not really a small boat anymore… And I said, “Why not don’t we have a proper galley so we can make everything fresh on board?”
And yeah, it just tumbled. It just went so quickly. We said we would do something together in November and by December we bought the boat.
Annie: Was it at all intimidating, to start this entire new business? Can you talk a little bit about that?
Charlotte: It was terrifying! The rebuilding of the boat was the easy part because we both knew what we were doing. The idea of actually starting a business… Neither of us have ever done that before. It was so daunting, just getting licenses, doing the accounting, the VAT returns, the marketing, and the social media. It was all new.
It was crazy. But I think that was the most fun bit because it was something we hadn't already done.
Annie: Was it a hard entrance in your first opening season? Did it go as planned?
Charlotte: We were really lucky, the day we launched the business, we got a phone call from a Channel Four production TV company. And they said, “Can we come and film you guys?”
They were doing a series about people living off of their land or from the sea.
And I was like, no. I don’t want to be filmed. But we did. And they came and filmed our first cruise and were with us for three days and nights. And it aired on Channel 4, and as soon as it went out we were fully booked for that summer.
Annie: Something else I'm really interested in is the sustainable food aspect of this. Can you talk a little bit about the sourcing of materials?
A lot of our food comes from within a five-mile radius of here. We're really lucky. There's a place called Soul Farm, which is literally just on the right. We got our pasta from there. When we can't source things exactly from Cornwall, everything has to be British… other than our wine. Our wine is the only thing that comes from Europe.
It’s really the idea of trying to keep all of your impact down. So you're trying to eat locally, and you're trying to make sure you're eating season. Our menus are based on what's in season.
All of our seafood is Cornish. We only serve Cornish fish. Our crab and any of our shellfish come from this river here [River Fal]. We have a fisherman, called Ned. He fishes out of here and always has done. He's got a pontoon just up over there where he keeps all his store pots. So we have our own pot of live crab there that he fills up for us. We go out in the morning in the dinghy, pull up the pot, pull out the live crab, and then cook them. So, they're incredibly fresh and they're so local.
The only thing that we actually buy and that we don't make on board is bread. We use Stones Bakery, which is an amazing bakery in Falmouth. We go there at like 6:30 in the morning to pick up the bread.
Annie: I wonder too about the intersection of traditional wooden boat craft and sustainable food. Those things seem like they are in the same sort of realm.
Charlotte: They are. I would say with both things, you have to be realistic. I think if you do as much as you possibly can and if you've got the intention to do as much sustainably as you can, you’re doing really good, you’re doing your best.
Annie: So obviously you don't have to source sustainably to give the same fine dining experience to your guests. Can you tell me about the choice to source locally and sustainably?
Charlotte: I think there is a responsibility if you are going to own a hospitality business to try and impact the world as little as you can. I quite like the camaraderie of it when you are reaching out to everyone locally. It takes a lot more work. It took maybe a year for us to get to know everybody and see what was out there. But, I think it's really important actually. If you can then you really should. And also it tastes better in my opinion.
There’s a movement and in Cornwall, you really feel it. And I think it would feel odd not to be part of that for a start. Whilst we’ve been doing this, we just educated ourselves loads, which is great.
Annie: Do you think that running this business has impacted the way that you live your life and how you personally source things?
Charlotte: Definitely. It doesn't take very much effort just to have a bit of thought about where your food comes from.
Annie: I imagine it would be hard to scale this up. That being said, maybe you don’t even want to scale this up. What do you want the future of Blue River Table to look like?
Charlotte: Well, that's an interesting question. I don’t think Jess or I would want to have another boat. We're really happy with Tethra. We've both been doing this for five years and it's been a gradual philosophy as we’ve had more people working with us.
We can either keep going like that or maybe see if we could collaborate with people a bit more. There are so many interesting dining places around here, around this river. So we’ll see where that goes in the next couple of years.
Annie: I'm also curious about the name Tethra… where did that come from?
Charlotte: It’s the original name, Tethra of Looe. Our friends got into looking it up because it’s not Cornish, but apparently, it’s Irish. There was a God and he had these women called tethrans that would go collect the taxes. And if no one paid, they would unleash loads of anger.
So, yeah, that's what a Tethra is. That's the only thing we found.
Annie: Wow, I don't want to say it's serendipitous because you and Jess seem so lovely.
Charlotte: Yes. We are hard hard businesswomen. The funny thing about running Tethra as two women, and it doesn’t happen very often, but you do sometimes get people that say “Oh, so you're the owner.” And I just smile.
Annie: That brings me to another question. The restaurant industry is largely male-owned, and male-dominated, as is the maritime industry, do you think that puts you two in a unique position as owners and representatives in both industries? Do you identify with that? Do you not?
Charlotte: From my personal experience, which is really hard to take away from actual statistics, it doesn't feel massively male-dominated. In the maritime industry, I know it is, and I have been brought up in it. But there are some amazing women, and most of them seem to be our friends.
I do think Cornwall is a hot spot for it. And in fact three of the best chefs I know are women.
We just started this small business and then been so wrapped up in making it run.
Annie: What I have noticed about Cornwall versus other places I've visited so far, is that it does seem like it's a real hub for sailors and boatbuilders. Even the representation I see at boat yards or docks seems higher. This area seems incredibly unique in that respect.
Charlotte: It’s a really interesting place. Especially for old historic boats, too. It's brilliant.
Annie: What do you love about running this business?
Charlotte: I love how much of a challenge it's been. I've really, really enjoyed how much confidence it's given me over the years. You know, when you're so scared of doing something at the start? Just conquering those little fears and those doubts, that's been amazing.
And, seeing people come back every year is really nice. We have some guests that come back every year like twice or three times throughout the summer.
Annie: Those are all my questions. Thanks for taking the time, Charlotte.
Charlotte: Yeah, of course!