Specialist consumer business investor Piper has taken a £6m stake in recipe box subscription business Mindful Chef.

The funding will be used to expand Mindful Chef’s UK customer base to take advantage of the growth of the recipe box market, which is forecast to double over the next 10 years.

Mindful Chef was launched by school friends Rob Grieg-Gran, Giles Humphries and Myles Hopper in 2015 to “make healthy eating easy”.

The retailer has annualised sales of £10m – sales rose 178% over the last year – and it delivers almost two million meals to customers.

Tim Lee, formerly head of food and online strategy at Marks & Spencer, recently joined Mindful Chef as chief executive.

Lee said: “With 2018 ending on a high, this investment from Piper signifies the great confidence they have in our business, and will help support our established marketing programme as well as our exciting NPD pipeline.

“We believe that Mindful Chef’s proposition ticks all the boxes for people who want to live healthier lives.”

Piper investment director Rory Gibbs said: “Mindful Chef is well placed to continue accelerating the growth of the recipe box market with its highly differentiated health-focused positioning.

“We are backing a young, dynamic team who are passionate about making healthy eating easier for their customers. We are excited to be joining them and helping them to realise their ambitions.”