COOK - popular frozen food shop - to open in York

The company which has been going for 25 years and mostly based in the south is growing its network of shops and will open its latest store in York on June 24.

The new store will be at Monks Cross and customers will be able to buy its full range of award-winning frozen meals and puddings, including best seller lasagne al forno.

Vegetarian, vegan, gluten and dairy-free food will also be on sale, as well as a selection of food for entertaining.

The site of the new COOK shop in Julia Avenue, Monks Cross, York

Most items are prepared to be cooked straight from frozen.

The shop will be moving into the empty premises next to furniture store BoConcept in Julia Avenue, in what was formerly a Carphone Warehouse.

Of the firm's expansion into York, Matthew Bourne, retail director at COOK said: "The pandemic has shown that there is still strong demand and customers want to be able to buy good quality frozen food conveniently."

Indian takeaway from COOK

He said the move into York was a new direction. "For the first time, we have decided to look beyond the small market towns. To date, we’ve found it hard to find the right sites when looking in larger towns, so we’ve decided to look further afield than the main high street and try retail parks.

"What this offers us is the opportunity to work with a site that can more easily accommodate our click-and-collect offer and equally offer customers the convenience of parking outside the shop."

Spokesperson Claire Postans said the company prided itself on making high-quality meals and puddings, hand prepared by its team of chefs, using ingredients that you would use at home.

She said ingredients were sourced from farmers and suppliers who shared COOK’s approach to quality, sustainability and animal welfare.

The meals are flash frozen and then transported via its own network of COOK lorries nationwide to shops and concession for customers to enjoy.

She said frozen food helped to reduce food waste as well as offering consumers the convenience of a home-cooked meal without any real work. With the cost of living going up, consumers are set to be savvier about how they eat and watch where they could be avoiding wasting money.

COOK chefs at work

She added that the new shop would also have its own local home delivery van, enabling COOK to get out and about connecting with and delivering to the local community.

As an incentive to try COOK when it opens, customers are being invited to sign up to get 15 per cent off their first shop. Sign up at www.cookfoood.net/shops/york-sign-up.