Made in Chelsea’s Verity Bowditch and former YouTube personality Mikey Pearce have raised £1.4 million in a seed round, with a £7.5 million valuation to expand the new disruptive plant-based food brand, Clean Kitchen Club.

The lead investors in the round include Clive Sharpe, ex-chairman of Quorn, and Grace Beverley, fitness influencer and business owner. Beverley is chief executive of Shreddy, a fitness and recipes app, and Tala, a sustainable activewear brand, which, since launching in 2019, has reached more than £10 million worth of sales.

The funding and valuation, achieved in less than 12 months since launch, will enable Clean Kitchen Club to continue expanding with the aim of opening up to 40 new sites across the UK in the next few years. The fast-growing plant-based QSR chain operates out of five sites in London, most recently opening its latest two-level main outlet in Camden in July.

Clean Kitchen Club will be opening a larger flagship store in Soho early next year plus four other grab-and-go sites in London next year. The funding will also enable Clean Kitchen Club to launch a range of retail products, starting with Clean canned coffees and meat substitute products which will be available to purchase in grocery retailers, at the Clean Kitchen sites, and via food delivery services.

Pearce launched Clean Kitchen Club in summer 2020 against the backdrop of a global pandemic and after experiencing first-hand how plant-based food benefited his lifestyle. This experience ignited Pearce’s passion to bring good quality, plant-based food to the mainstream. After launching in a tiny kitchen in Brighton, Clean Kitchen Club quickly gained local attention for being the only vegan burger brand in Brighton at the time, and saw Pearce expand the business to London with Made in Chelsea star and biomedical science graduate Verity Bowditch, as co-founder.

As a sustainable QSR brand, Clean Kitchen Club aims to take plant-based food to the mainstream, blending outstanding food with eco-friendly ingredients and carbon neutral packaging. The company turned over its first million in just eight months and continues to grow every day, taking over 2,000 orders daily and growing over 30% month-on-month. Clean Kitchen Club sold 50,000 burgers in its first year – with hero items in an ever-expanding menu that includes everything from its classic clean burgers, vegan bacon mac n cheese, chicken katsu bowls, no meat meatballs, salads, wraps and desserts.

Clean Kitchen Club has also grown to cater for a range of firms including Dior and Tenzing, as it encourages businesses to become more sustainable in their approach.

Mikey Pearce, Co-Founder and CEO of Clean Kitchen Club, commented: “I’m incredibly proud of the team for signing our first investment round and seeing the phenomenal growth Clean Kitchen Club is experiencing every day. The idea for Clean was born from my mother’s vegan bacon sandwich and I decided I needed to create a brand that would provide delicious, accessible plant-based food and bring it to the mainstream. We have big ambitions to be the biggest plant-based food brand in the UK – this is just the start.”

Verity Bowditch, Co-Founder and Head of Sustainability at Clean Kitchen Club, added: “There’s a clear demand for delicious, sustainable protein alternatives. People are waking up to the impact that meat production is having on the environment and need a clear solution – one that also fits easily into their lifestyle. We provide exactly that.