A BUSINESS specialising in gluten-free products has secured a major contract with a leading supermarket that will help treble turnover this year.

The Gluten Free Kitchen, which set up in North Yorkshire two years ago, will have its pastry on the shelves of about 400 Sainsbury's stores nationwide from September.

The deal comes as the awardwinning company prepares to move from Leyburn to premises four times the size in nearby Hawes.

Owner Sue Powell said: "Business is going so well. It did not grow too fast too soon, but now it is just catapulting forward.

"We have outgrown our premises in Leyburn, so are moving to the Upper Wensleydale business park, in Hawes for more space."

The company launched in April 2005 to offer a range of food for sufferers of coeliac disease, whose bodies react against the gluten in wheat, rye and barley, found in cakes, breads and pastries.

The company now supplies 60 to 70 cafes, delicatessens and health food stores across the North and has its own shop.

Miss Powell said turnover has already doubled and continues to grow.

She said: "I expect to see turnover at least treble this year.

"We have secured a contract to supply Sainsbury's. We hope this will grow over time and we can supply a range of puddings too."

The Gluten Free Kitchen was set up in Aysgarth, with £20,000- worth of investment from Business Link, North Yorkshire County Council, Richmondshire District Council and Miss Powell's savings.

It moved to bigger premises at Leyburn Business Park in June last year to cope with growing demand.

Last week, Miss Powell was presented with the Best New Business award at the seventh annual Country Living Magazine's Enterprising Rural Women Awards.

She was awarded £2,000 to help expand her business and given a free stand at Country Living Magazine's Christmas Fair.

Magazine editor Susy Smith said: "Sue saw a gap in the market for gluten-free products and grabbed it.

"This is not only a successful business that makes mouth-watering baked produce, it also provides delicious comfort food for people with coeliac disease who would not otherwise be able to tuck into the cakes, breads and pastries the rest of us take for granted."