Elite Bistros boss Gary Usher is planning to offer shares in his restaurant business.
The chef behind restaurants like Kala in Manchester and Sticky Walnut in Chester has used crowdfunding for previous projects, notably his Didsbury restaurant Hispi and his recent venture, Elite Bistro Events.
He raised £150,000 in just 24 hours for the events business last summer, from 1941 backers.
But he’s now planning to go a step further and offer equity in the business rather than the one-off rewards associated with the crowdfunding projects.
He will use the online platform Crowdcube for the venture, which he hopes to launch in April.
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, he said: “We want to keep strengthening the business. We’re at the point now where running a small group of restaurants is difficult without investing back in what we do.
“If we do want to open maybe two or three new places, doing the Kickstarter crowdfunding isn’t going to be enough for what we need to do. So looking at this way of selling equity in the business and selling shares is actually a pretty nice, natural progression.
“The whole business has been crowdfunded, and I feel like there might be people who want to do it. There are people who have watched what we’ve done so far, and it feels like there are people who like what we do, and it could be great for everyone.”
He’s hoping that the sale of equity in the business will raise £2 million.
“When I put £2 million on Twitter, I couldn’t quite believe what I was writing,” he added. “But it’s the reality of what we need to do the things we want to do. We started with crowdfunding and it’s worked for us.
“Corporate backing is always one option to grow a business, but what I’ve learned about Crowdcube is that it’s a way of selling equity and still be able to do the things you want to do in the business without someone corporate, who doesn’t understand the business, telling you that you can’t.
“For example, we use one of the best butchers in the country. There are a thousand other butchers where we could get our meat for so much cheaper. If we were to get corporate funding, the first they’d say is ‘cut this, cut that’. I’m sure there are some that wouldn’t, but there are many more that would.
“Yes, we want to strengthen the business, but we want to keep hold of what we believe in.”
Usher, who also runs Burnt Truffle on the Wirral, and Wreckfish and Pinion in Liverpool, and also started meal kit service Elite Bistro At Home during lockdown, already has two immediate projects in the pipeline.
He’s recently signed the lease on a new pub premises - though the location remains a secret - and he’s also planning to open a tapas restaurant, called Joya Tapas, the first artwork for which he revealed on Twitter yesterday.
“We’ve written some menus, and done some tastings,” he said.
“It’s 100% going to happen. We want the place to be really relatable, casual, not formal at all. What you’d expect of a great tapas restaurant.
“Less formal, more fun, and sharing dishes. Humble and unpretentious.”
As for the pub, he added: "I started my career in pubs, everyone who works at Elite loves pubs. Always have.
"I probably have always loved the thought of it. Bistro, and French and Italian food has always been what I feel most confident in, but pubs have been part of my career too. It won't be same as running a restaurant, but what we believe in is good food and good service, so hopefully we can translate that over to a good pub."
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