One of Gloucestershire's true success stories has taken another significant step forwards thanks, in part, to the help and assistance of another.

Since opening in Cheltenham in 2016, the Coconut Tree Sri Lankan restaurant has taken the county's culinary scene by storm.

Such was the success of the St Paul's based eatery that the group of friends who ran it decided to expand.

New outlets in Oxford and Bristol have followed, and now a fifth new restaurant has opened in Cardiff.

As with all of the Coconut Tree eateries, the state-of-the-art kitchen equipment supplied by Gloucester-based family-run company Target Catering Equipment.

The team at Target have been providing bespoke catering equipment to the foodservice industry for more than 30 years.

They have used that experience to install modular equipment, including wok induction hobs, ovens and grills throughout to ensure authentic Sri Lankan-style taps can be produced.

Rodrigo Rashinthe, Operations Director for The Coconut Tree, said: "Our restaurants were getting busier and busier so we needed equipment that could cope with the growing demands of the business.

"The Target team offered a friendly, knowledgeable service and we couldn't rate them highly enough for their exceptional induction equipment."

After their initial opening in 2016, it became clear to the team at The Coconut Tree that the outdated and disorganised gas-powered kitchen needed upgrading.

Having been recommended to the team by a friend, Target recommended they should consider switching to induction cooking technology due to its benefits within a small kitchen.

Following trials of the equipment at Target's demonstration kitchen, The Coconut Tree engaged the company to upgrade the entire kitchen.

Mr Rashinthe added "The equipment has allowed us to provide a better quality of service to our customers and our chefs are finding the innovative catering equipment technology a lot easier and safer to use."

Target Catering Equipment is widely known for its commercial induction ranges, which have been recognised as highly sustainable products by industry body CESA/FCSI and the Carbon Trust.

The company also specialises in designing sustainable commercial kitchens including kitchen ventilation systems, assisting customers with overcoming difficult kitchen ventilation and layout issues.

David Pedrette, Managing Director of Target Catering Equipment, said: "We're delighted Rodrigo and all the team at The Coconut Tree are enjoying our equipment as much as their customers enjoy their tasty Sri Lankan dishes!

"We hope they continue to enjoy the many benefits of sustainable induction equipment in the many years of successful business to come."