Nestlé has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Mindful Chef, the B Corp certified healthy recipe box and prepared frozen meals company. Michelmores acted for Mindful Chef and certain key shareholders.
Exeter school friends Giles Humphries, Myles Hopper and Robert Grieg-Gran founded the company in 2015 and, along with CEO, Tim Lee, will continue to run Mindful Chef with the additional support and capabilities of Nestlé’s world-leading food business. Some existing shareholders will retain their stake in the company, whereas others, such as Crowdcube, Seedrs, and Piper will exit in full.
This is the latest matter that Michelmores has advised Mindful Chef on since it helped on the company’s incorporation in 2015 – other transactions include its crowdfunding rounds with Seedrs in 2016 and Crowdcube in 2017, and its Series A investment from Piper in 2018. In the short period since its Series A round, Mindful Chef has grown revenues six times from £8m to £50m for the current financial year.
Tim Lee, Chief Executive Officer, Mindful Chef said:
“From the very beginning when Rob, Giles and Myles launched the company nearly five years ago, there was a very clear goal – to make healthy eating easy and delicious while being good for the planet.
“The consumer response has been great and we expect to see sales of over £50 million this year. Nestlé’s experience and support gives us the opportunity to build on this success in the UK and beyond, making healthy eating easy for more consumers.”
Rob Grieg-Gran, co-founder of Mindful Chef, commented:
“Many thanks to the team at Michelmores for all their hard work and support throughout this transaction. Michelmores have provided us with support at all stages of our entrepreneurial journey and I have always been impressed with their business friendly advice and the speed and diligence in which they can turn around requests, which is so key for a fast moving start-up”.
The Michelmores’ team consisted of Harry Trick, Francesca Hubbard and Henry Taylor in the Corporate team, Karen Williams in the Finance team and David Thompson in the IP team.
Stefano Agostini, Chief Executive Officer, Nestlé UK & Ireland said:
“I’m delighted to welcome the Mindful Chef team to Nestlé. Giles, Myles and Rob have built a brand with a clear purpose, offering consumers a trustworthy proposition that makes healthy eating easy through a direct-to-consumer subscription model.
“Nestlé and Mindful Chef share an ambition to increase the availability and convenience of healthy food while paying close attention to how ingredients are sourced and reducing food waste. It means this is an ideal partnership for both parties.”
The deal is expected to close before the end of the year.
Corporate finance and tax advisors to Mindful Chef were KPMG. Nestlé was advised by Linklaters.
