A food company set up by the founders of the Phileas Fogg snack range is expecting to achieve a turnover of £25m in the next three to five years, and create up to 300 jobs.

Since Tanfield Food Company launched its Look What We Found brand of gourmet meals in March, the meals have been ordered by up-market chain Waitrose and US-owned Costco, as well as attracting interest from other leading supermarkets, delicatessens and department stores.

The company makes restaurant-quality ready-meals, available in pouches that can be stored for up to a year and be ready to eat in minutes.

The entrepreneurs behind the company are Roger McKechnie and Keith Gill. They previously founded the successful Derwent Valley Foods, in Consett, County Durham, which made the Phileas Fogg brand of snacks, and which was bought for £24m by United Biscuits in 1993.

Both men, together with co-directors Cassandra Williams and Nicola Roberts, have invested more than £1m in Look What We Found, which is also based in Consett, with help from development agency One NorthEast and a bank loan. They expect to satisfy initial projections of creating 42 jobs over three years by the end of this year.

"We now realise that the market is a lot bigger and the opportunities a lot greater than we initially thought," said Mr McKechnie, 64.

"Our vision is to get the company to the size that Phileas Fogg was in the next three to five years, with a workforce of 200 to 300 people."

He said the units available to them at the Hownsgill Industrial Estate would provide enough space to achieve a turnover of £25m. The company sources many ingredients from producers in the North, including venison from the Alnwick Castle Estate, in Northumberland, sausages from Silloth, in Cumbria, and fish from Swallows, of Seahouses, also in Northumberland.

The meals are prepared and packed in pouches before going into a pressure cooker, in a process similar to that of canning, to sterilise the food to allow it to be stored without refrigeration for up to a year.

"One thing I have learned is that if you are going to be successful then you have got to be different and you have got to do it better than anyone else," said Mr McKechnie.

"Our products are made with high-quality ingredients, which can all be traced back to their origin, they don't have any preservatives or additives and they taste superb. The potential market is huge - from large supermarkets, delis and farm shops to pubs, hotels and caravanners."

As well as being sold through the Look What We Found brand, meals are stocked in Sainsbury's, through the Italian food brand Valentina's, and as Look What We Found Professional for catering businesses.