Founded in 2015 by three school friends, Myles, Giles and Rob, in Devon, Mindful Chef delivers healthy, fresh, delicious meals directly to customers’ doorsteps. Sourcing high-quality ingredients from sustainable suppliers, Mindful Chef has quickly grown to be the highest rated recipe box in the UK. But their mission doesn’t stop there as they continue to set new standards for Mindful eating with every box delivered.
Driven by a passion for freshness and sustainability, the Mindful Chef team set out to create one of the most sustainable boxes on the market, boosting their green credentials and proudly upholding their B Corp status. They sought packaging that not only protected ingredients during transit but also embodied their commitment to the environment at every turn. By working together, the Smurfit Westrock team developed the existing Mindful Chef packaging to make it as sustainable as possible and able to keep contents cool over extended periods, enhancing customer loyalty to keep them returning to the brand time and time again.
Mindful Chef were looking for a fully closed-loop solution for their packaging, and Smurfit Westrock were ready to get stuck in and deliver packaging that went full circle and fulfilled their brief for ‘packaging built most sustainably, using solely recycled and recyclable materials’.
The Smurfit Westrock team crafted a bespoke, 100% recyclable packaging solution for Mindful Chef, minimising waste and providing full traceability throughout the process. To guarantee their fresh produce and ingredients arrived in perfect condition the packaging’s strength was rigorously tested in multiple ways. As Mindful Chef highlights, “This is important as the boxes carry very precious cargo, like our Isle of Wight tomatoes, fresh herbs and sustainably sourced fish.”
Using fully recycled FSC material, the team created a sustainable way to keep ingredients at an optimum temperature as they make their way through the supply chain. That means Mindful Chef’s customers receive ingredients that have been stored at the right temperature and are safe to eat.
Partnering with Mindful Chef, the Smurfit Westrock Yate team optimised the box sizes to maximise the number of boxes that fit on each lorry, cutting down the number of lorries on the road and shrinking both the business’s and customers’ carbon footprints. To boost the boxes’ sustainability credentials even further, Smurfit Westrock use a glue seal on the recipe boxes, cutting down on plastic tape and lowering its environmental footprint.
As the new Mindful Chef boxes are 100% recyclable, customers can recycle them by putting them in with the rest of their cardboard waste. As Mindful Chef explains to customers, “Simply pop the empty box into your recycling, and it ends up back at the paper mill, ready to start the process all over again.” Not only does this appeal to consumers who want sustainable ways to shop, but it also makes disposing of the recipe boxes as quick and easy as possible.
Furthermore, the case erector installed at Mindful Chef HQ – from Smurfit Westrock Machine Systems automated packaging machinery range – runs at approximately 1200 boxes per hour, speeding up their building, sealing and packing process. That reduces labour, achieves cost savings, and minimises the chances of delays due to packing boxes not being ready. This machinery enables Mindful Chef to get orders packaged and out the door faster, helping the food stay fresh for when it reaches the homes of hungry customers.
Myles Hopper, Co-Founder, Mindful Chef said, “By working with Smurfit Westrock, a leader in sustainable packaging and who shares our passion for protecting our planet, we’ve created a bespoke, 100% recyclable solution for Mindful Chef with no waste and full transparency and traceability throughout the process.”
