With over 800 employees, COOK is a powerhouse in the Swale Business Community. Manufacturing and selling hand-prepared frozen food, COOK employs over 330 people in Sittingbourne alone. The business has a vast network of 87 shops nationwide and also sells it’s food online and through an additional 400 independent retailers.
COOK’s food is aimed at working single-people, couples, families and retirees who want to eat great-tasting, nutritious meals but due to work or other pressures will struggle to find the time to prepare food from scratch.
Not only are COOK a massive local employer; they are also keen to have a positive impact on society. James Rutter, Director of Brand and Strategy, discussed COOK’s outlook: “At the heart of our strategy for the next three years is our purpose, to create a remarkable food business that’s a force for good in society. This won’t make us the biggest food business in the country, nor the most successful according to traditional financial metrics, but if we can make it a reality it will mean we can have a positive influence far beyond our size.”
The business has been operating for almost twenty-years, and still adheres to the core principle of being ‘people focused’. They continue to invest in making COOK a great place to work. They have adopted the UK Living Wage and were ranked 28th in the Sunday Times Top 100 Companies to Work for, where they were also the highest placed retailer. They are also committed to helping their employees achieve their dreams, employing a professional life coach to run “The COOK Dream Academy”, which helps COOK’s people to meet both personal and professional life goals.
James discussed why he had entered the business into the 2016 Swale Business Awards: “COOK may be the best-kept secret in Swale. It often seems few people have heard of us locally, yet we are one of the biggest employers in the borough and rank as the very best manufacturing company to work for in the country! We are a national retail brand with shops on high streets up and down the country. Over the past four years, our food has won 50 Great Taste Awards from the Guild of Fine Foods (including 13 this year), more than any other maker of ready meals. It highlights the fact that what we achieve daily in Sittingbourne is nothing short of a miracle of food manufacturing, managing to make mass-produced, frozen food that looks and tastes homemade. This is only possible due to the commitment, care and expertise of our predominantly local workforce.”
Cook Trading Limited
The COOK Kitchen
Eurolink Way
Sittingbourne
ME10 3HH
01732 759010
www.cookfood.net