Tonbridge-based frozen food retailer Cook Kitchens will be able to carry out ambitious expansion plans and create new jobs after successfully finding new manufacturing premises.

The firm has also been given an Enterprise Grant to assist with its plans, which will create a further 20 jobs.

Enterprise Grants, which are available throughout large parts of Kent and Medway, are discretionary one-off grants for small and medium enterprises investing in high quality projects to help businesses enhance their supply chain improvements, innovation, research and development or environmental sustainability.

James Perry, managing director of Cook Kitchens, said: “This expansion will give us strong foundations for our plans to expand our store network.

“The expansion, and the grant, will help us to redesign our kitchen facilities and enable more effective workflow management – strengthening our position as we go for growth.”

Locate in Kent, the company that worked with Cook Kitchens to identify the additional premises, were pleased to have helped a growing firm stay in the county.

Paul Wookey, chief executive of Locate in Kent, added: “Cook Kitchens is the type of ambitious company which we need to retain, and help grow in Kent as it offers considerable benefits to the local economy through its commitment to local purchasing and employment.”

Cook Kitchens has recently won a prestigious award, having been voted ‘Rising star of the year’ by industry magazine Retail Week.

The enlarged facility at Crown Key Lane Industrial Estate in Sittingbourne will be up and running by the summer 2004.