Exeter School alumni to sell start-up to Nestle

Nestle has agreed to acquire a majority stake in a company co-founded by Exeter School alumni.

The Mindful Chef, created by Giles Humphries, Myles Hopper and Rob Grieg-Gran, is a B Corp certified healthy recipe box and prepared frozen meals company.

Nestlé has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Mindful Chef with Exeter School alumnus, Harry Trick, acting for Mindful Chef and certain stakeholders on behalf of Michelmores.

Friends since they were at Exeter School, Giles, Myles and Rob 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. In the current financial year, Mindful Chef has grown revenues six times from £8m to £50m.

This is the latest matter that Harry and Michelmores have advised Mindful Chef on since it helped on the company's incorporation in 2015. Michelmores is an award-winning law firm headquartered in Exeter, with offices in Bristol and London.

Exonians Giles and Myles have generously shared their time and expertise with current Exeter School pupils on several occasions. More recently the duo returned to school to take part in the Lower Sixth Business and Enterprise Day, as part of Futures Week, which prepares pupils for life beyond school.

The pair gave a talk to all pupils in the Lower Sixth and ran a question and answer session during lunch break for A Level Business and Economic pupils, as well as those taking part in Young Enterprise, so that they could learn more about running a business.

Giles said: “We all met at school, albeit in different year groups, and have remained friends ever since. Our close bonds formed at school helped us work together as a team in developing Mindful Chef. We have really enjoyed the experience of growing our company and have returned to Exeter School several times to share our journey with pupils as we are keen to inspire future entrepreneurs.”

Harry said: “"I have been good mates with the three of them since school, so it has been great to be able to play a small role in the company's growth over the last five years and to witness what an incredible job they have done in building the business."