Published : 8 years ago, on 15/07/2016

Mindful Chef partners with Seedrs for equity crowdfunding round

Mindful Chef, the healthy recipe box company that has been given the thumbs up by members of the England Rugby team and The Beckhams, is seeking to raise £300,000 on equity crowdfunding platform Seedrs as it offers existing and prospective customers a first opportunity to share in its success.

Advocating convenient healthy eating for the busy individual, couple or family, Mindful Chef is expanding to offer their services to more health-conscious homes, to benefit the entire country. Mindful Chef currently delivers gluten-free, organic produce with no refined carbohydrates to homes nationwide. Customers choose the recipes, Mindful Chef source and deliver the produce and the customer cooks and enjoys the meals. No fuss, minimal waste, just delicious and healthy meals.

Three remarkable men with variant qualities and experience saw a gap in the market, and joined together to launch Mindful Chef. Co-Founder Robert Grieg-Gran was a time-poor, global investment banker who ate badly at his desk for 7 years, whose mission is to offer the nation good quality, ‘farm to fork’ meals. Co-Founder Giles Humphries, worked long hours at M&C Saatchi and preparing healthy meals was unwillingly replaced with grabbing fast food with no nutritional goodness. Giles brings digital marketing and brand experience to the executive team.  Lastly, Co-Founder Myles Hopper, personal trainer and nutritional coach brings health credentials and expertise to the team, regularly keeping a strict, close eye on the nutritional value of each recipe.

They are supported by a hard-working and talented team including Head Chef, Louisa Mitchell, who trained at Leith’s cookery school and has extensive experience within the premium fresh food sector.

Current investors include former Global Chief Strategy Officer of Interbrand, Leslie Butterfield CBE who commented: “This is one of the most promising brands in one of the strongest growth markets right now. High-quality product, talented team and major growth market – that makes for a very powerful brand! I’m really excited to be supporting the Mindful Chef team as they build a great business and a powerful brand for the future.”

The healthy recipe box brand plans to use funds raised to increase marketing, invest in their technology to enhance the user experience and build a state of the art mobile app. Mindful Chef’s long-term vision is to sell other health and lifestyle products to homes nationwide.

Giles Humphries, Co-Founder at Mindful Chef said: “There is something very exciting about inviting existing customers as well as brand ambassadors of the future, to actually be part of our growth. £9 billion is spent online on groceries in the UK each year and that number that is set to double by 2020. It is the fastest growing sector of e-commerce.  Mindful Chef is a challenger brand in an exciting sector with a number of unique brand differentiators. By fundraising on Seedrs we hope to reach a wider market, build brand loyalty from new investors and take our simple, delicious healthy-eating option to more people.  We are excited to invite people to be a part of our long-term journey.”

Ekaterina Steube, Campaigns Success Manager at Seedrs, said: “Mindful Chef is a vibrant, eye-catching healthy food brand, pioneered by three inspirational entrepreneurs. We are delighted to be hosting the campaign on Seedrs, and we’re excited to see their customers, fans and partners jump on board to be a part of their exciting growth plans.”

The business has seen a 25% month-on-month growth since launch in summer 2014, has a £1m gross order value, with an average order spend of £36. There is a huge opportunity for Mindful Chef to own the healthy sector in the rapidly growing recipe box market.

In the US, research firms like Technomic have pointed towards recipe boxes making up $3-5 billion of the $1.2 trillion grocery and restaurant market. If that holds in the UK, recipe boxes would be 0.25% of the £178bn grocery market. That means potential annual revenue of £44+ million for Mindful Chef alone.

Mindful Chef is now live on Seedrs: www.seedrs.com/mindfulchef