For many, the words frozen food conjure up images of cheap and cheerful products such as peas, pizza and fish fingers. Given that, and the fact that the sector is dominated by the supermarkets and specialists such as Iceland, what potential is there for a small company offering a range of high quality gourmet frozen meals? Plenty, according to Edward Perry. His company, Cook., offers a wide range of frozen cooked meals, a far cry from the fare offered by the more traditional frozen food retailer. You certainly won't find a pepperoni supreme among the stylishly arranged freezer cabinets in the company's five stores dotted around the south of England. The idea for the concept came when Perry was working for his parents' firm, the Hand Made Cake Company, selling frozen cakes to the foodservice industry. "They had a factory shop on an industrial estate which did extremely well just by word of mouth, and I worked there for a year. I realised there was great retail potential in what they were doing, but there was no obvious retail outlet," he recalls. Perry thought that a savoury element would sit well alongside the cakes, but his parents were not keen. "I wanted to exploit the retail concept, adding a savoury element, along the same principles, made in small batch quantities to retain the home made element. "It was too much of a departure for my parents, but they encouraged me and suggested I do it myself." And so, in 1997, Cook. was born. Originally, Perry said, he had no intention of producing the food in-house, but after an exhaustive search for suppliers, he was unable to find anyone capable of supplying the quality of product he wanted. He then teamed up with chef Dale Penfold and the pair opened a kitchen in Sittingbourne. Perry says: "We were both very naive, the kitchen was set up with only £18,000." Dale managed to get second hand equipment and built the kitchen himself with some friends. But, with the benefit of hindsight, it was simply not enough. The new company quickly opened three small stores ­ the first in Farnham which was soon followed by stores in Tunbridge Wells and Maidstone ­ and Perry and his team worked hard to improve the business and the range. "The Farnham store was tiny, it had only six freezers selling cakes and a small number of meals. Through to October 1999 it was just simply a case of growing the range and improving. Basically learning how to do it." By this time, despite the fact the business was doing extremely well, Perry found himself facing a brick wall, lacking the capital needed to expand. The solution came with the retirement of his parents when his younger brother James took over the family business. Perry says: "He proposed a merger between the two companies. My initial reaction to the proposal was no way', however I later realised it was a good idea. We were under capitalised, and, if I'm honest we also needed the extra management skills. I'm good in the shop and Dale is good in the kitchen, but that's where it stopped." The boost given by the merger of Cook. with the Handmade Cake Company led to the opening of their flagship 1,000 square foot store in Sevenoaks, at a cost of around £120,000. The store sells a diverse range of meals from green Thai chicken and honey roast duck in plum sauce to pork stroganoff and beef bourguignonne, as well as a range of puddings and cakes. "Wherever possible we try to source all our goods from local suppliers," adds Perry. "All our meat comes from Smithfield and we do all our own butchering. We did buy in prepared meat from butchers and they were fine at first, but then bits of gristle would creep in, and that's not acceptable." With the expansion in the number of stores has come the inevitable expansion of the kitchen, which has grown from its original 1,500 square feet to 7,500 square feet, employing up to 20 people, which Perry says will be good enough for the coming year but after that he may need to expand again. "We have various sites that we're interested in and around 30 targeted towns around the south-east. But we're not looking to site shops all over the country." He also adds that they can't afford to open outlets costing £120,000 a time, like the Sevenoaks shop, and have been looking for cheaper routes to market. "We have worked out we can open 600 to 1,000 square foot shops at around £40,000 each. We can only really expand at a pace that the kitchen is comfortable with. The whole business is based on the quality of the products and the business starts with the kitchen. We will not compromise on quality." The first of these smaller format stores will open in Chichester on November 26 at a cost of £45,000 ­ and that will be the fifth Cook. outlet. The company is also in the process of setting up a central logistics centre in Sevenoaks which Perry says will make the business easier to manage. In terms of innovation, he says the company has experimented with home delivery, but is not looking to expand it at the moment. It has also set up a collection point at Sevenoaks train station, allowing commuters to order their meals at the office and pick them up on the way home. However Perry says the experiment, while not being a failure, was not a massive success either, although it has acted as a useful marketing tool to make people aware of the shop. When it comes to customers, he says they have a clear target. "We are aiming at anybody who doesn't have the time, or the inclination, to cook. Many of our customers are women aged around 40, who are very good cooks and have been cooking for the last 20-25 years but they no longer want to do it every night. They form the backbone of what we do. However, there's an awful lot of single men who will buy six one portion meals a week. They like to eat well and don't mind spending a bit more." Cook. still has a a couple of unresolved problems. Puddings is one area where it struggles and Perry says because of their homemade nature it's difficult to obtain product in sufficient quantities. Packaging is another. "Because of the size of the business, we literally have to beg people to do packaging for us and, because of that, we pay a lot more for it." But those problems aside, the future looks bright, although Perry is being cautious. "We want to take it one step at a time. If we can expand to 10 shops or even 20, then we will, but not at the expense of quality." n {{FEATURES }}

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