Former County Durham steel town Consett is proving it has more to offer the world these days than Phileas Fogg crisps. Joanne Pratt of Newcastle-based venture capital firm NorthStar Equity Investors led a £1 million investment in another local group, Tanfield Foods, created by Phileas Fogg founder Roger McKechnie, which is now launching its ‘Look What We Found’ brand of gourmet ready-cooked meals.

Operating from a trading estate in Consett, the company claims that these repasts, ‘prepared by gourmet chefs’, can be stored for more than a year at room temperature, which removes the defrosted and reheated taste of most ready-cooked meals.

Tanfield Foods (unconnected to the beleaguered electric vehicle specialist of the same name) is launching the brand in multiples such as Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Marks & Spencer and Asda, as well as small independent shops around the country.

NorthStar Equity Investors invested £400,000 into Tanfield Foods, which recently appointed experienced food sector player Richard Harper as managing director.

Angel investors put in £450,000 and NEL Fund Management provided a £150,000 mezzanine loan.

Harper proclaims, ‘We have already witnessed a clear demand for the “Look What We Found” brand, which is currently being sold across the food service sector.’ He and Joanne Pratt no doubt hope for a repeat of the success that founder McKechnie had with Phileas Fogg, which he started in 1982 and sold in the mid 1990s, and still operates near its original Consett premises.