A ST Albans company is hoping to rake in the dough after it was awarded a massive grant to expand production.

The Bread Roll Company, based in Lyon Way, has won a Home Grown Cereals Authority (HGCA) enterprise award of £20,000 to develop a new range of speciality health breads.

The award supports companies who come up with innovative uses for grain. The company said it hopes to use up to 1,000 extra tonnes of grain over the next two years with the project which will see it produce speciality health breads including ciabatta, panini and focaccia.

The breads will be low in salt and fat and consist of lower Glycaemic Index (GI). Eating foods low in G.I. has been linked to reducing health problems such as obesity and diabetes.

Managing director of the Bread Roll Company Stephen Ville said: "With a health bread market estimated at £119 million in this country, we decided to create this totally new range to keep up with market trends.

"These breads not only taste good, but offer many health benefits to consumers.

"Thanks to the support from the HGCA, we can continue with the development of new products that require intensive research and testing programmes.

"We are now looking forward to a successful launch of our speciality breads in the UK later this year."

The Bread Roll Company bakes more than a million products each week for the food service and retail sectors. It has a client-base including leading supermarkets, sandwich manufacturers and caterers, at companies such as American Express and the Honda car company.

It also offers fresh bakery goods to customers as far apart as Bristol, Birmingham and Brighton, from a distribution network of seven depots. Julian Gibbons, chairman of HGCA's market development committee said: "Through the Enterprise Awards Scheme HGCA assists UK companies in developing new markets in this country and abroad.

"This initiative by The Bread Roll Company will help to create a whole new category in the market place, which is good for the industry as a whole as well as UK growers."