A single mum who dreamed of creating healthy snacks for children has just clinched a deal to sell her fruit crisps at Tesco.

Nimisha Raja, who sold her house to build a factory in Sittingbourne, said: “We have been in discussions with Tesco for some time about selling our snacks on their shelves.

“The hard work has been worth it. I’m delighted to announce we will be in stores shortly.”

She added: “This is a fantastic way to finish a significant year which has been filled with major breakthroughs.

“The deal has the potential to transform our business. This will require a significant ramping up of activity at our factory and the recruitment of three more people.”

Her crisps will be stocked in the fresh produce section and are licensed by the Department of Health as “one of your five-a-day” fruits.

Tesco buyer Joanna Batty said: “We are delighted to be adding Nim’s Fruit and Veg Crisps to our range of snacks. They are a great healthier snack choice.”

The news represents Nim’s biggest deal with a UK supermarket and comes hot on the heels of agreements with the Co-Op and online specialist Ocado.

More than 1,500 Tesco stores nationwide will sell the apple, pear and beetroot and parsnip varieties which are air-dried from British-grown fruit and veg in the factory in Tribune Drive on the Trinity Trading Estate.

Nim, 53, was running her own coffee shop called the Square Sandwich in Battersea when she hit on the idea of fruit crisps.

She said: “We were opposite a school and parents with children would come in. The children would ask for crisps but the parents wanted them to have fruit.”

She spent five months researching how to make crispy fruit and settled on air-drying, one of the oldest methods of drying thinly-sliced fruit.

For two years she worked in the coffee shop during the week and made crisps in her garage at home at weekends and in the evenings.

Five years ago she sold the coffee shop to concentrate on crisps and initially had them made in Hungary.

She said: “This was never going to be a niche business because the fruit and vegetables are too expensive and the cost of production is too high. Making it on a small scale was never going to work.”

So she sold her house to create a 10,000 sq ft factory in Sittingbourne. It opened at the end of 2015 and boasts a 15-metre long drying machine with two washers, a packing line, warehousing and offices.

It can turn out 12 million packs a year and also produces a range of sliced dried cucumbers which can be added to gin.

All of Nim’s Fruit and Vegetable Crisps are fat, gluten and dairy free, as well as being vegan, Kosher and Halal certified.

For further information, visit www.nimsfruitcrisps.com or follow @nimsfruitcrisps on Twitter.