Nuno Mendes' Viajante fails to reach £1.75m funding target

Chef Nuno Mendes' plans to open a new Viajante restaurant in autumn 2016 are under threat after the project failed to meet its £1.75m online funding target within its allotted time.

The Portuguese chef launched the crowdfunding campaign on investor website Seedrs in November 2015, aiming to raise the sum to help him open the new site in a Victorian warehouse in Wapping. Mendes has now left the website, which has now removed the Viajante page, and is reportedly seeking investment from elsewhere.

Set to give investors a 33.3% stake of equity in the venture, the minimum investment available for the new venture was £10, with Mendes' own website stating that the average amount had been at £2,600. Other rewards included priority booking and free private dining, depending on the amount invested.
The chef had advertised the campaign via an online video, in which he said the project would add "colour, creativity and another dimension to the London restaurant scene", and "had the potential to become one of the best restaurants in the world."

Mendes closed the original, Michelin-starred Viajante in London's Bethnal Green in January 2014 before helping to open the restaurant at André Balazs' Marylebone site Chiltern Firehouse soon after. He admitted at the time that he was "sad" to be closing Viajante and was looking forward to reviving the concept.

Commenting on the failure to reach his target, Mendes today stated: "The crowdfunding campaign was an exciting platform to measure peoples' appetite for Viajante. While we did not reach our ambitious target, it has provided such international awareness for the project that we are now exploring other exciting avenues of investment. More updates [are] to follow in the near future."

Nuno Mendes plans Viajante revival through £1.75m crowdfunding scheme >>

Nuno Mendes leaves Michelin-starred London restaurant Viajante >>
Chef Nuno Mendes to open new restaurant >>