Ormskirk inventor brings ancient cooking method to modern homes with £25k Startup Loan

A new Lancashire company is looking to bring one of the world’s most ancient cooking methods into today’s homes after securing a five-figure loan from Business Finance Solutions.

Entrepreneur and inventor Nick Jones will use the £25k Start Up Loan to grow Tandoor-i, a designer, manufacturer and installer of professional-standard tandoor ovens for home kitchens.

Nick said it will be the first time the 3,000-year-old Asian cooking method will be available in modern domestic kitchens.

Tandoor-i imports the clay ovens from India and merges them with British materials for assembly in Lancashire, after which they can be fitted into kitchen units or an island worktop.

Nick will use the loan to purchase stock and to invest in sales and marketing.

The Tandoor-i ovens will be sold from Nick’s Ormskirk base through a network of kitchen showrooms and property developers.

Business Finance Solutions’ head of lending, Roger Seddon, said: “Nick is tapping into the growing demand for restaurant quality products for the domestic market and we were delighted to support his exciting new venture with a Start Up Loan that will enable him to get the business moving very quickly.

“Kitchens today are the heart of the home as never before, and with the popularity of cooking programmes and world cuisine we are all becoming far more adventurous about what we want to cook and eat at home.

Before setting up Tandoor-i, Nick worked as a teacher and in pharmaceuticals.

He commented: “Indian food has never been more popular in the UK and our advisors at BFS immediately saw the potential in making a professional standard product available to home cooks and were able to help us with the funding and support we needed to develop our business.

“I’ve always had a passion for cooking authentic foods from around the world – I have a wok for Chinese food, a pasta maker for pasta but I couldn’t find a tandoor for Indian food, so I made one!”

Nick added: “The most popular dish served in restaurants at the weekend is Chicken Tikka Masala so it’s obvious that people want to experiment more and more with Indian food. Tandoor-i gives them a chance to do just that.”

Business Finance Solutions is the government’s North West delivery partner for its multi-million pound Start Up Loans programme. The company is also a Greater Manchester Combined Authority lending partner.