Having started with just one shop in Farnham, Surrey, COOK Trading Ltd now sells its products through 32 shops, 150+ farmshops and an online delivery business - and has over 300 employees. To meet demand, COOK commenced building work on a £2.5million development for a new kitchen production facility in Sittingbourne in March 2007, which opened in October 2007.
The rapid growth and widespread locations of COOK Trading Ltd’s outlets has meant that the company increasingly relies on its IT infrastructure as a key line of communication. “We use an intranet to provide the latest news and information for the regional stores,” said Jeff Turner, Head of Finance and IT at Cook Trading Ltd. “We also use the wide area network as an integral part of our accountancy system as sales totals are uploaded from each outlet daily to our bespoke management system – so it is vital that the service is maintained on a constant basis.”
COOK Trading Ltd enlisted the help of Surrey-based outsourced IT specialists ramsac for systems support alongside the company’s small in-house team. ramsac has been involved with a number of major IT projects with COOK Trading Ltd, notably a major server upgrade and the transition of IT during a move to the company’s new head office.
“It had become apparent that we had outgrown our old infrastructure and required an upgrade to continue the expansion of our IT facilities,” explained Turner. “ramsac looked at our needs and gave us a set of suitable options that were available to us.