The Transformation Chef, a family-owned business which provides health-focused home-cooked meals, is seeking a seed investment round to further grow its sustainability-focused brand.
The Thatcham-based business is planning to scale up its operations and capture a bigger share of the UK’s growing ready meal and ready to cook market, which is currently valued at £3.1 billion per annum.
The Transformation Chef was launched in 2018 by husband-and-wife team Chris and Rachel Connor. Chris had previously spent 15 years working in the hospitality industry, including as chef patron of his own restaurant; while Rachel spent several years in the events industry developing her organisational and managerial skills.
The company produces a range of over 30 ‘heat-to-eat’ premium restaurant standard frozen meals which are free from gluten, dairy and refined sugar. Produced by hand at its kitchen in West Berkshire, The Transformation Chef meals are packaged in fully sustainable and recyclable materials and delivered throughout mainland UK.
A strong commitment to sustainability sits at the heart of company’s ethos with environmental impact influencing all of its business operations. This includes procuring food and ingredients directly from source wherever possible; utilising food waste to support sustainable energy projects; and carbon offsetting of all the company’s delivery miles with a returns option for packaging to be used again
To help build on these credentials and further scale its business across the UK, The Transformation Chef has now launched a crowdfunding campaign where it aims to raise a minimum of £125K. The investment will go towards new frozen storage space and packaging capability to support higher volumes on the back of increased sales which are forecast to rise to £1.5m next year and to nearly £5m per year by 2023/24.
The company will also invest in further marketing and brand-building activities and it plans to increase its current team to 16 over the next year.
The Transformation Chef’s leadership team includes Karen Green, a former Buying Manager at Tesco and Boots and author of Amazon bestseller Recipe to Success - the ingredients of a profitable food business; Alexis Liming, former Senior Commercial Manager at Virgin Media; successful tech entrepreneur Linden Holliday, who was also a former Director at BT and NTL; and nutritionist Jenna Hope, who has advised a range of leading brands including ASOS, Google, Soho House, and Phillips.
Chris Connor said:“Rachel, myself and the team are proud of what we’ve achieved since setting up the business in 2018. The UK ready and frozen meal market is huge and now experiencing further post-Covid growth so we feel this is the perfect time to take The Transformation Chef to a higher level.
“The crowdfunding round will help us scale the business and increase our presence in the market by supporting investment in additional equipment, marketing activities and staff. It also provides an opportunity for anyone who share our values to join our journey to build a high quality, healthy food brand which is fully committed to sustainability across all of its operations.”
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