Sustainable recipe box packaging for Mindful Chef
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, our 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.
Finding the right packaging partner
Mindful Chef came to us at Smurfit Westrock, looking for a fully closed-loop solution for their packaging, and the team 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’.
At Smurfit Westrock, our commitment to circularity begins at our Townsend Hook paper mill, where we transform recycled paper into new, high-quality paper. This paper then travels to our manufacturing facility in Yate, where it’s crafted into corrugated cardboard and precisely designed to create the sustainable packaging Mindful Chef relies on.
Once filled with fresh ingredients and delivered to customers, these boxes complete the cycle by returning to Townsend Hook through kerbside recycling, ready to be turned into another box.
This closed-loop system embodies our commitment to ‘circular by nature’, providing Mindful Chef with the fully recyclable packaging they sought.
Our sustainable process even extends to water use: at Townsend Hook, we draw water from the local river, circulating it as often as possible during production. Once fully utilised, around 80% is carefully returned to the river, sustaining our dedication to environmental responsibility at every stage.
Keeping ingredients safe, secure and cool during transit
Our 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.”
Our experts also worked on the insulation of Mindful Chef’s cool box. Using fully recycled FSC material, our talented team created an industry-leading, 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.
Reducing Mindful Chef’s carbon footprint and speeding up the process
Partnering with Mindful Chef, our 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, we 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 our 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 at Mindful Chef said, “By working with Smurfit Westrock, a world 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.”