Gary Usher hits £50,000 target for third restaurant with 15 days to spare
Chef and restaurateur Gary Usher has already hit his target to crowdfund £50,000 for a new restaurant, still with 15 days to go.
As of this morning, investors had pledged £52,901 towards Hispi, which he hopes to open in Chorlton near Manchester.
The chef, who opened his first bistro Sticky Walnut in 2011, opened second site Burnt Truffle in 2015 after raising £100,000 via the crowdfunding website Kickstarter in 2014.
Menu of the Year 2013 Catey winner Usher, launched a new Kickstarter page for Hispi late on 7 March, and within hours it raised £10,000.
Usher's bank said it would loan him £100,000 for the new project, but only if he secured the £50,000 online first.
Usher's is not the only Kickstarter campaign to be going well of late: yesterday, chef and Acorn Award winner Paul Foster hit his £100,000 funding target in a bid to open his own restaurant in Warwickshire, with just one day to go.
Kickstarter is a US-based website allowing people to post bids for new projects and ask members of the public to pledge relatively small amounts of money towards the campaigns. Depending on the amounts set by the fundraisers, people can pledge as little as £5 or £10, with the amounts rising up to £5,000. The fundraiser only receives the money if the total target is reached within a set timeframe.
Each pledge comes with a ‘reward' attached should the bid reach its goal, in the form of small presents or acknowledgements related to the campaign itself. Usher's rewards include having your name on the wall of the new restaurant, or a £50 voucher for a meal for two at any of the three restaurants.
Gary Usher of Sticky Walnut raises over £15k overnight in new Kickstarter bid >>
Sticky Walnut's Gary Usher unveils new restaurant Burnt Truffle >>